I Haven't Even Heard You Cry
by Carlisle'sPetiteDefenseur
Summary: Ziva is pregnant.Tony doesn't know what to think.The months that follow consist of fighting,heart ache,and end with a bundle of joy.Or not.Will Tony and Ziva be able to work it out for their unborn child? Slight OOC at times. R&R
1. Scared

**A/N: Well, you see some things that happen when I get bored are.. well, I write. I have these random little plot bunnies running around in my head that drive me crazy and then I just have to write because they control me and I am just their little minion.**

**This is just one of those whole "Ziva gets pregnant with Tony's child" kind of fictions but I am hoping it to make it at least somewhat different than the typical "Oh, Ziva finds out that she's pregnant and Tony's all whoa I am going to be a dad and then asks her to marry him and they all live happily ever after" kind of one's. Not that I'm saying they're all like that... just to clarify so no one kills me!**

**I am not sure where this fiction will take me, but we'll see how it goes. Reviews would be nice if you could spare some time.**

**Disclaimer: As much as I would love to own NCIS and it's amazing characters, I don't. Simple as that.**

The NCIS Special Agent and ex Mossad Officer was pacing back and forth in her apartment with only the thought of why running through her head. Protection was used when she had last had sex and she was even on the pill just for safe measures. In the position she was in she was not cut out to be a mother and the person whom she slept with was not the ideal person to be fathering a child. Hopefully it was not a child that she was expecting and just that she was sick and some other illness was causing her to miss her period. Though the the ladder was probably not probable. Now it was only the pregnancy tests and then perhaps a trip to a doctor that could confirm the agent's fears.

She picked up the first test which had the results that she didn't want to see, so she grabbed the next one hoping that the first was faulty. Yet again she saw another pink plus and the last test confirmed the results even more. All of her tests read positive and it was in that moment of that life that she wasn't exactly quite sure what to do with herself, or what to do about the situation in general. She always took the precautions before ever engaging in sexual activity with anyone. She had always been so careful, yet somehow she had ended up pregnant with a person's child that she wasn't even in a committed relationship with. She wasn't even in a relationship with her partner.

They were more than just being partners and colleagues but the two of them having sex was never supposed to happen. She wasn't even entirely sure what the relationship between them was. She knew that the both of them were becoming overly fond of each other but there were things in the way of a relationship ever blooming between her and her partner. There was rule number twelve, and it was a good rule for their boss to have. A working relationship becomes difficult to maintain if you are in more than just a working relationship. Situations that are typical of their job become more delicate when two people are in a dating relationship.

Ziva needed to figure out what to do when it came to her new probably that wasn't going to go away. She was stuck with the "problem" and Tony would have to be stuck with the problem, as well. She didn't even know how to break the news to him or how he would even react. It was obvious that both her and Tony would end up being the worst parents ever. Would Tony even want to be involved in the life of a child? She didn't want to even think about that, Ziva did not want to be alone during a pregnancy and she did not want to be alone in raising a child.

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><p>The conflicted woman grabbed her purse and car keys and locked up her apartment, deciding that she would have to go to Tony's before he headed to work and get this off of her mind before she went insane. The drive was stressful for her and she blasted her favorite Israeli music to try and keep her mind off of the future conversation she knew she would be having. Ziva contemplated hiding the baby but she knew that the longer she hid the child she'd chicken out on ever telling Tony. He would end up finding out when she started showing and that was not the way for him to find out that this happened.<p>

Slamming the car door shut she went up to Tony's apartment and knocked on the door as loudly as she could, taking a few deep and calming breaths. Tony wasn't answering the door so she started to ring the doorbell a few times. He had to be home! She couldn't go through all of work today feeling so awkward and unsure of what to do. Tony could read her like a book and Gibbs could also usually tell if something was wrong with her.

The door opens, revealing a very tired looking Tony in only his boxers and a white muscle shirt. "Ziva?" he asked her in shock, "What are you doing here at 6:30 in the morning? I need my beauty sleep, surely you of all people know that."

"Let me in Tony, we need to talk right now." Ziva shoved past him, not even waiting for an invitation inside his apartment. It was messy and there were three takeout pizza boxes stacked on his coffee table.

"What's so important that you need to come over at this ungodly hour of the morning and interrupt my very important sleep?"

"We have something that we need to…" she trailed off, paling significantly and then bolting towards her partner's bathroom just in time to start vomiting violently in to his toilet.

Tony had followed after her at a run and had pulled her hair out of the way, "Zi, are you feeling alright?" he asked, trying to keep the concern out of his voice.

Ziva coughed a few times and finished emptying the contents of her stomach and then turned around to face her partner, "I need water." She said, weakly.

Tony had left her alone in the bathroom for a few minutes but returned with a glass of water with a few ice cubes floating around in it. She appreciated the small gesture of him actually trying to be nice to her and remaining serious. He passed her the water and then pressed his hand to her forehead, trying to figure out why she had been throwing up and if she was sick or not. She almost wanted to laugh at his attempt of trying to figure out the situation because unfortunately it was a lot worse than just a simple fever. Much more complicated than just a simple fever.

"Ziva, what is wrong with you?" Tony demanded, "You aren't running a fever but yet one would think that you would be warm. I'm confused."

Ziva took a few careful sips of her water and looked up at Tony, "I am confused to." She said, quietly.

"So you mean that you don't know what's wrong with you? Should we be taking you to a hospital. I could call boss and tell him that the both of us will be late to work this morning and only to call me if there's a case that comes up. I'm pretty sure we'll probably only have paper work. At least, I hope that's all we have to do."

"Tony, I do not need to go to a hospital or go to see a doctor. At least, I don't need to do anything like that right this very day."

"Ziva, I don't get what you are trying to tell me. Can you stop being such a woman and just quit with beating around the push. I can't figure out these mind games and they just make me more and more confused. I need some type of book to learn the lovely language or women. Or maybe I need some new type of film."

"I am just not sure how to tell you what I need to say, Tony." Ziva snapped, looking kind of stung. "Where you have a small emotional range you just don't get how hard the thing that I have to tell you is for me. You probably will never understand the complex emotions of a woman because you never learn how to sympathize with one, no?"

She was so confused, normally a classic Tony comment about women and how emotional and round about they were never bothered her. Actually, sometimes she would agree with him despite the fact that she was quite obviously a woman. She had always heard that women became hormonal when pregnant but she just never expected that kind of stuff to happen to her should she ever become pregnant. Ziva allowed a few hot tears to leak from her eyes and then quickly regained her composure as Tony looked slightly shocked at the fact that his ninja partner had just shed a few tears in front of him. The cold hearted Lady Kimono Dragon had allowed her walls to slightly come down in front of him in a strange sort of way.

"Alright, Ziva, I am very sorry about what I just said and I will shut up and let you get out what you're trying to explain to me without being the typical douchebag you sometimes think I am."

"You and I both have a really big problem. I know that we've become much closer but maybe we've finally got to the point of becoming much to close. Now we are going to have one very angry Gibbs at us, because he is going to think that we have out right broken rule number twelve."

"We had sex, Ziva." Tony said, "I don't get what that has to do with rule twelve. Gibbs said to never date a co-worker and we are not dating. We're just…something."

"The two of us are going to have to figure out what that something is in probably the course of 9 months or maybe a little bit less now, depending on what a doctor has to tell me."

"9 months?" Tony spluttered as realization plastered his face, "Wait, you have to be kidding me, Zi! 9 months? Ziva, are you really sure about this?"

"All of the signs are there, Tony. I also did three tests and all of them turned out positive. I am going to book a doctor's appointment soon and get some blood tests and an ultrasound. Tony, I am scared."

"_You're _scared?" he asked, "Hell, I'm scared too! I don't want a baby and I definitely don't want a rule twelve lecture from Gibbs. I am not cut out to be a father and I am pretty sure that a ninja chick is not the ideal mother."

"You are not helping the situation right now any, Tony!" Ziva exclaimed, "I am aware that you are not cut out to be a father and I am probably not the best option for a mother but I do not want to abort an innocent life, Tony. I need you to have my back like you do when we're on the field. You said that you'd always be here for me, no matter what happened. So, I am coming to collect on that promise."

"Ziva, that's exactly what this baby is! An innocent life that is going to be dragged in to our world of working all the time, and being on under cover missions and stakeouts! They'll be in a world where if someone has a grudge against us they could end up being harmed. It's not fair to that child, Ziva."

"Plenty of people in our type of work have children, Tony. You don't seem to remember that. Director Vance has children and my father who was the Director of Mossad had children. Plenty of Special Agent's have kids and they're okay!"

"I don't feel right bringing a child in to this world, Ziva." Tony grumbled, "We are not parent material and I am afraid that I will turn out like my own father. I can't let that happen to any child who doesn't deserve that kind of life."

"Well then it's just a good job that I am bringing this child in to this world." Ziva growled, the tears threatening to fall. "I guess asking you to be there for me and back me up on this is too much to ask of the man who has commitment issues and wants to just flirt with a new girl every other night. When you're doing that I hope that you'll remember your pregnant partner who only asked you for one thing."

Ziva was already on her feet and pushing her way past Tony who was standing there and completely stunned. She had definitely slapped him in the face and Ziva had no regrets about it either. They made the baby together so they were going to be in this mess together. If he didn't want a child then tough on him because she was going to keep the baby! She sat down the empty glass on a random surface in his living room and stomped out of his apartment.

_"This is going to be an extremely long day at the office." _ Ziva thought to herself.


	2. It Takes a Man

**A/N: Chapter 2 to this random story of unplanned plot bunnies that's been hopping around in my head. I guess I am doing okay for a story that wasn't even thought out or planned. I just...wrote. Tony man's up a little bit more in this chapter, but that doesn't mean much of anything. There's still a long road ahead for Tony, Ziva, and baby.**

**The last lines in italics in this chapter are from a song called "It Takes A Man" by Aaron Lines. The title of this story is also from the song "I Haven't Even Heard You Cry" by Aaron Lines. Just thought that I should say that, and also state that I do not own these songs. I also don't own NCIS.**

Things were tense in the bull pen at NCIS and both Gibbs and McGee were getting the brunt of the storm that was going on between Tony and Ziva. Tony was early for work that day and Ziva had showed up over an hour late with blood shot eyes, looking like she had been crying. No one dared to even ask her what was wrong because she had given Tony a very noticeable death glare and then sat down at her desk. Something was clearly wrong between the two of them because normally if they were fighting they'd be rude to each other and make fun of one another. Ziva seemed as if she was not just angry at Tony but angry at the entire world. She had slammed her computer mouse down on her desk multiple times and it was now smashed to bits.

I think the whole team was glad to hear Gibb's calling out to gear up and that they had a case of a dead marine on their hands. Ziva and Tony both noisily grabbed their gear, not being discreet about their anger with each other and Gibbs and McGee just looked at each other, wondering what was going on. It was only when Ziva stumbled and started looking extremely pale did they start becoming a little bit more concerned about the situation.

"Ziver, what's wrong?" Gibbs asked her, "Are you feeling okay?"

"I am just a little bit tired right now." Ziva said, shrugging. "Sometimes we all get that way."

Gibbs raised his eyebrow, "Should I be benching you for the day, Ziva?"

Ziva shook her head and went back to glaring at Tony who glared back at her in turn and Gibbs decided that it was safest to stand between the two of them. If your agents are acting like children then you should treat them like children until the both of them learn to grow up and stop bickering at each other like little kids in the first grade do. Neither of the two seemed to mind that Gibb's felt the need to separate them and Ziva started making small talk with McGee who seemed relieved that what was going on seemed to be calming down a little bit. Mind you, no one was ready to start pushing Ziva just in case she flew off the handle and happened to have a paper clip in her pocket.

Ziva and McGee ended up going in the NCIS truck with McGee driving and Tony went with Gibbs, just to keep the two of them split apart.

"What happened with you and Tony?" McGee asked, "You seem pretty angry, Ziva."

"What happened between Tony and I earlier today is between Tony and I and will remain between the two of us until he stops being such an annoying jackass who is acting more like a teenage boy than a man. He takes the prize for most teenage like attitude right now."

"Actually, I was more thinking that the both of you were acting like two 6 year old kids who got in a fight over a coloring book and have decided to take it out on everyone else for the rest of the day."

"McGee, do you value your life right now?"

"Of course I value my life…" he trailed off.

"Then maybe you might want to start acting like you are valuing your life right now. Remember where I came from and what I can do. I am also not afraid to inflict any injury right now."

McGee paled visibly and returned back to driving pretending that it was taking much more concentration that it really needed. If the ninja threatened you then your best bet was to shut up and not talk to her anymore until she cooled down.

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><p>On the scene of the crime Ziva did her best to avoid trying to do anything that might end up upsetting her stomach, such as taking pictures of the scene. She specifically requested if she could do the interviews and Gibbs allowed her to do as she wished. As a father figure he was being respectful of her mood and trying to get her to soften up to him. He couldn't have his agents fighting with one another when he needed their concentration on an investigation, so if interviewing people made Ziva happy he wasn't going to question it.<p>

Ziva questioned the husband of the dead Marine who wasn't making much sense to her at all. The man was distressed and held a crying two year old boy in his arms. The child clearly knew that something was going on and was crying out for his mother. The agent tried not to let herself be affected by the little boy when trying to conduct her interview.

"Is there anything else that you could tell me about your wife, Mr. Morgan?" she asked, prepared to write down more information.

"She was 2 months along in pregnancy." The man's voice quivered, "We were hoping for a little girl, a sister that my son would fight with and pick on and then eventually be overprotective of."

Ziva paused and then nodded, biting her lip. "I think that's all the information that we'll need right now but if we need anything more we'll be sure to contact you. If you think of anything else you can call this number." She gave him a card, "We'll let you know more once we get the body to autopsy and start running some forensic tests. I am sorry for your loss. _Both _of them."

She walked away from the man and his fussing toddler and back to the NCIS van. She stood beside it and let the tears fall down all over again. She had definitely cried too much in the span of not even 24 hours and she had a feeling there were many more days like this ahead in her future. Tony headed over towards her with some bags of evidence that he was quite obviously going to put in the back of the van. His walk slowed slightly and Ziva turned around to face the van and not him. He did not need to see that she was crying again. Tony did not need to see her as weak and as broken as she was.

She heard him slam the doors of the back of the van shut and assumed that he would leave again, but she felt a hand on her shoulder. Ziva ignored Tony and shook her shoulder slightly to try and get his hand away from her. She did not want her partner anywhere near her at the moment because it was him who was leaving her in this situation. It was Tony who was leaving her vulnerable and an emotional mess of pregnancy hormones. He played a role in the making of the baby and he couldn't even man up and accept that he was a part of it. She couldn't stand to see him and she just wanted him to go away. Ziva felt like telling him that he could go and shoot himself in the foot and she would care less. Though really, she'd be lying to him and herself. She would care if something happened to Tony. She would always be there for him, even if he wouldn't be there for her.

"Ziva, I want to talk to you." Tony said, "Please look at me."

"I don't want to talk to you right now, Tony. I want you to leave me alone and never bother me again unless I come to you and say that you can speak to me. I don't even want to see your face. In fact, I just want you to stay away from me until you _grow _a pair."

"Ziva, you have to listen to me right now. We can make plans to talk to each other later. I'll take you out for supper after work and we can talk about this. Please, Zi?"

"No, Tony. I am mad at you right now and I want you to respect that. We could have talked this out this morning but you did not want to talk about it. All you were concerned about was if you turned out like your father or not."

"That's a lie and you know it!" Tony grumbled, "I am concerned about so much more than that and it is understandable that I am. Ziva you're just letting the hormones get to you. I am trying to talk this out with you now that I've given myself a chance to let all of this information sink in. It's a lot for me to think about."

"There we go! All Tony ever thinks about is Tony. You can't think about anyone else for once in your life because I guess that is too hard for you to do. You just don't get it! Now go away, I said that I don't want to talk to you and I will personally break your nose if you don't leave me alone."

* * *

><p>Instead of anger, silence filled the bull pen for weeks following the last encounter that Tony and Ziva had with each other. Ziva was still not willing to talk to Tony and was now just being irrational. It seemed that it was impossible for the Senior Field Agent to reason with the "probette". Gibbs and McGee were also noticing that Ziva always subconsciously had her hand on her stomach as if trying to protect it from something. Gibbs was becoming suspicious of Ziva and was slowly starting to piece the situation together but had decided to let the two agents figure out their issues for themselves and then give them the rule twelve talk.<p>

The two were forced to go down to Abby's lab together to check on something and as soon as the elevator doors closed, Tony stopped the elevator. Ziva glared at him and he just looked calmly at her and started to speak.

"Ziva, I can't take this anymore. I know that you're hurting and I know that you're not sure of what to do which means you're taking it out on everyone else. If you'd just talk to me things would start being a little bit better though, I promise. I am your partner and I am on your six. I have your back, Zi." Tony explained, "If you want to keep the baby, keep the baby. I will support you through it and I will help raise him or her. The child will be wanted and I have faith that you will be a good mother. Please Ziva, just agree to talk this out with me. Things can work out between us, I promise you that they can."

"Do you really mean what you are saying, Tony?" Ziva asked, speaking to him directly for the first time in weeks. "I don't want to let you in if you're only saying this if I'll stop being mad at you. I want to know that you really mean what you're saying."

"I really mean it, Ziva. I have got your back and I have got our kid's back." Tony pulled his partner to him and rested his head on top of hers, "I have no faith in myself when it comes to this baby and raising him or her, but I have faith in you, Zi."

"Please don't let me down, Tony. Or I do not think that I would ever forgive you and I mean that. If you ever let me and your baby down, you're done."

"I won't let the two of you down, Ziva. I promise you I won't let you down. I've had lots of time to think about this and I don't want to leave you scared and alone through this whole thing. You may have protecting yourself and being an awesome agent down to a perfect art, but I can see that you're not sure what to do with this situation. We can figure this out somehow. You're going to be okay, Ziva."

_And my heart hit like a hammer, and my thoughts were running wild. Any fool can make a baby. It takes a man, to raise a child._


	3. Haven't Even Looked In Your Eyes

**A/N: Oh my gosh, I really did not expect getting the amount of review's that I got. Feel free to please keep the coming- seriously! They're extremely motivational when it comes to me and my writing. If I don't have reviews it doesn't make me really want to continue writing as much and the updates are more infrequent, but seeing as I've been liking writing this myself and all of you people are just giant balls of AWESOME I already have another chapter pre-written after this one and might do a couple more today before I start my homework and studying. Thank you guys!**

**Also- Just a reminder again that any song lyrics that appear in here do not belong to me but belong to the writers of that song and I am just merely using them in the story. I also do not own NCIS or anything NCIS like. Nope nope nope...**

Ziva and Tony's relationship was rocky and neither of them seemed all that excited when the doctor had told them that Ziva was seven weeks along and then congratulated them. The two of them were feeling rather neutral towards the pregnancy after having another big fight over the baby. Ziva was getting ready to accept that maybe this wasn't going to work and that her and Tony really weren't capable of raising a child together. The doctor gave the two of them another smile and walked out of the room and Ziva held back the tears that she wanted to spill. She had managed to control her crying to when she was by herself in a place like a shower so that way no one else could see that she was losing it. She wanted to gain back her title as the person (next to Gibbs) who rarely ever showed her emotions. She was trained in Mossad to not let her emotions get the best of her, but ever since she got pregnant she was a wreck.

Tony was also finding himself an emotional wreck in certain ways. He wasn't crying and having hormonal mood swings like Ziva but he just didn't know what to do with himself half of the time. He told Ziva that he had her back and would be there for this pregnancy but sometimes he just wanted to run away screaming. There were days where he felt like he couldn't handle how his life was changing and that he was going to be the father of his partner's child. He and Ziva were taking this pregnancy the same way a High School couple would deal with it.

The rest of Team Gibbs was also aware of Ziva being pregnant and Tony being the father. Abby seemed to be the only one that was really excited over the baby and was already starting to buy little things and get knitting patterns for booties and little hats. Tony and Ziva weren't even anywhere near the point where they were thinking of buying baby items. It was too unreal for the both of them and Ziva was always going between the feelings of being happy about the baby to wishing that she wasn't pregnant.

The boss man wasn't impressed with what the two of them had done at all but he agreed that keeping the baby was a responsible move for the two of his agents. He had benched Ziva to just interviews only and then once she was further along with her pregnancy she would be grounded to just work at her desk. Ziva David was not taking too kindly to the fact that now she was not able to do her job to the fullest and cursed being pregnant to the highest heavens.

"You were the one who got pregnant, David." Gibbs reminded, "The baby didn't do that, you and Tony did. So don't blame an innocent child for you not being able to do proper field work. I was under the impression you wanted this baby, and if you want the baby then you're going to need to protect his or her life."

"I know that, Gibbs. My job is the only thing that keeps me sane through the days though. If I don't have this then I don't know what I'm going to do."

"You still have your job, Ziver. You just have limited things that you are able to do up until the time that you take maternity leave. Being stuck on interviews isn't that bad, you'll still be out in the field for the most part. Unless we think that it is too dangerous for you and then the situation might be likely to change. I am doing this for your own good, you'll thank me later."

"Well right now I am not in the thanking mood, Gibbs." Ziva grumbled, "I am not happy with this at all. I want to be able to do work. _Normal _work."

"Ziva, calm down and go to your desk. This conversation is now over, if we get a case you can come and do the interviews and you can observe interrogation. That's it, and what I have said is final."

Ziva glared at her silver haired boss but he didn't appear to be fazed one bit and he wasn't fazed either. She passed Tony on her way out and he just looked at her quizzically and decided to leave her alone. He walked in to the conference room to see Gibbs standing there with coffee in his right hand and a _you sure messed this one up, DiNozzo _look on his face.

"You're not too impressed right now are you, boss?" Tony asked.

"Oh, I don't know. What do you _think _DiNozzo?"

"That you're most definitely not impressed right now, boss."

"What were you thinking when you went and got her pregnant?"

"It's not like I meant for that to happen, boss. It just happened and I wasn't even dating her so I am not in violation of rule number twelve."

"All I can say is when you told Ziva that you would be there for her and that baby, you better keep your word or you are going to have me to deal with, Tony. Ziva is scared and didn't want this but she's also brave enough to keep the child just because she knows that it is not the baby's fault. So you better be there and you better treat her right. No more grab assin' with other girls you meet at bars."

"I wasn't planning on messing around now that Ziva's pregnant, Gibbs. I wasn't planning on messing around anymore anyways."

Gibbs raised his eyebrows, "Is there more that I should know about, DiNozzo?"

"Ziva and I were getting closer before we found out that she was pregnant with the baby and I found that she was trusting me more and I just felt right when I was around her. Now it's different again, but maybe it'll go back to the way it was. I almost thought for a while that I was starting to fall in love with her, but at that time we didn't know what we were to each other because of work."

Gibbs grunts, "Just remember, DiNozzo. I warned you- don't mess it up."

"Right boss, I'll remember that." Tony said.

"You're doing interrogation with me, DiNozzo."

"I'm on your six, boss!"

Everyone in the bull pen looked up to see an Abby whizzing towards them in a gigantic ball of energy and Abby-like happiness. She jumped up and down and clapped her hands and stopped between Tony and Ziva's desks. Abby cleared her throat and kept on clearing her throat until she got the full attention of both Tony and Ziva.

"I have something to announce!" Abby grinned at team Gibbs, "I have made booties. Brand new, cute little knitted booties."

"You have knitted a bootie?" Ziva asked, more obviously thinking about a butt than a baby bootie.

"I've knitted little baby booties." Abby smiled, "They're white because obviously you don't know what you're having yet but I just had to knit some!"

Abby pulled the tiniest little pair of baby booties out of a bag that she had and both Tony and Ziva stared at them in shock. They were so tall and both of them were sure that Abby must have made some mistake with the size of them. There was no way that little booties that small were going to fit their baby's feet.

"Abby, they're so…small." Tony blinked, "Are you sure that you haven't made some size mix ups?"

"Nope, I haven't mixed anything up. I actually made them a bit bigger than the measurement thing for a newborn baby. These are the right size, Tony."

Ziva blinked back a few tears from her eyes, "Thank you very much, Abby. They are very beautiful. I am sure that when the time comes they will look very cute on the baby."

"You really think so?" Abby asked, brightly. "I was hoping that you would like them, and you do! This is great! I can't wait to start knitting a little hat!"

Abby placed the little booties on Ziva's desk and then skipped back down to her lab oblivious of the stares that she received as she was often getting strange stares from people all around her. Even in her work place people staring at Abby was a common occurrence.

Tony got up from his desk and walked over to Ziva's, placing the little baby booties on his hand as he looked skeptically at Ziva. "Our baby will really be this small?" he asked her and she nodded, "What if I break the baby?"

"You won't break the baby, Tony." Ziva said, "I know that you will be very careful with our baby. Just remember to support the neck and you have the cat in the bag."

"Ziva you just mean to simply say that if I remember to support the neck I'll have it _made._"

The agent shrugged, "That is what I said, is it not?" she asked.

Tony shrugged and returned back to the paper work at his desk, though his eyes always glanced over at the little white booties that were sitting on Ziva's desk. A constant reminder to the both of them that they had a baby on the way and it was going to be a long and trying pregnancy. Yet Tony was slowly coming around to the point where he was getting a little bit excited to be a dad. Only a little bit, though.

_And I haven't even heard you cry. I haven't even looked in to your eyes. I haven't held you one time, but you've changed my life. And I don't even know your name, but I know I'll never be the same. Oh I can't wait to show you you can fly. And I haven't even heard you cry. _


	4. Yes, It's A Long Way To Go

**A/N: Again- thanks for the reviews that I have got! If you guys could keep them rolling then I will begin to give updates a lot more quickly. I have another 4 chapters ready to go, and all of you know what you need to do to get them in a timely fashion. Just kidding, I am not going to be the kind of author who demands reviews for updates. ;)**

**Once again.. any songs that may be used in my story are not mine and belong to their owners and I do not own NCIS.**

Ziva had reluctantly allowed Tony to come over and spend the night at her place on a Friday when they were sure that they didn't have work in the morning as long as no one was murdered overnight. He came armed with Chinese takeout and a stack of movies for her to pick from, though in the end he already knew that he was going to let her put in The Sound of Music. Ziva gave Tony a thin smile as he sat his stack of movies down and placed the bags of food on her kitchen table.

"Do you want a bit of everything, Ziva?" Tony asked, grabbing two plates out of her kitchen cabinets and a few spoons to start dishing things out with. "I got us quite the selection of food."

"I'll take a very little bit of each thing, thanks." Ziva said, cautiously. "I want to take it east, just in case the Chinese food doesn't agree with my stomach. I can't seem to stomach much food lately."

Tony nodded and then carefully scooped out small amounts of each thing on to her plate, keeping it very portion controlled because of Ziva's delicate situation. He handed her the plate with a fork and smiled at her. He got his food and poured the both of them water and took it out to the living room, setting the stuff down on the coffee table. He sat down beside Ziva, curious to see what movie she had put in the DVD player.

"We're watching Elf?" Tony asked, skeptically. "It's only December 1st and since when did we ever watch Christmas movies for children?"

"Since I decided that I wanted a change and would like to watch this Christmas movie." Ziva said, "Now shut up or I'll just send you home. I didn't have to let you come over, but you insisted and I was getting annoyed of your begging."

"Alright, we can watch that movie. It really doesn't matter to me anyway, I just wanted to spend some time with the mother of my child. You wanted to know that I really did mean everything that I've been telling you so here is your proof, Zi."

She frowned and then sighed, "If I was not pregnant with our child would you even be here right now, Tony?"

"We were closer before you got pregnant than we are now, Ziva. Things were different and then they changed again." Tony grumbled, "I wish things didn't have to be so complicated between us but I think they always will be."

"They may be different someday, Tony."

"Maybe when we have the baby it will be different. I guess we will just have to wait and see though, won't we?"

"We will have to wait and see, now shut up. The movie is on and I just want to watch the movie in peace."

They managed a comfortable silence between the two of them for about forty five minutes. Tony draped his arm casually around Ziva's shoulder and Ziva didn't pull away from him. There was just so many unsaid words that needed to be said between them.

"Ziva, I know that you're only 9 weeks along now but I was just starting to think about a lot of things now. You know like how we're going to raise the baby and stuff and exactly how we're going to deal with certain things."

"Like what kind of things?" Ziva asked, finally paying attention to him. "I want things to be as normal as they can be for the baby. I want him or her to feel like they have a normal family. I want them to have something that neither of us had."

"I want the same, Zi." Tony said, "I just am not sure how to say it because I don't want to end up making you mad."

"Tony, you are talking about our child and ways that you want to make their life better and make him or her feel normal just like any other kid. I will never be mad at you because of that or if you say something that I don't agree with. We're going to have to learn how to argue and not be childish about the things that we do argue over."

"I was just wondering if maybe we should start looking at things like bigger apartments _together. _Our places aren't big enough for a baby and maybe if we want to do this right we should have a place together. You know, a place that we can bring our new baby home together. We don't have to think about it right yet where we still have a while to go, but I just thought that it was something that we could possibly think about."

"If we did get an apartment together I would like it to be in a more family oriented and family friendly area." Ziva said, not saying that she liked the idea but also not saying that she didn't like the idea. "I want it to be bright and happy. Not like the apartments we have now where everything seems dark."

"We'll see what there is when we decide the time is right, and when we decide that we can live with each other without killing ourselves, or killing one another."

"We may never be to the point where we can live with each other without wanting to kill the other person, but we're going to deal with it so we can both be there for our baby. That's all that matter's to me is my baby and their well being."

"Zi, you are so amazing." Tony smiled at her, "You're so selfless and so caring about our baby. I know that you're going to make the most amazing mother a little guy or girl could ever have."

"I am glad that you think that because I am not so sure about that myself. I have many doubts, quite often. I am afraid that I will be the worst mother ever and that keeping the child will have been a mistake on my part because I will be unable to provide proper love for my child."

"I've always heard that for new mothers the maternal instinct is really going to kick in once the baby is born. I think that as soon as he or she is in your arms, you'll never fail that baby. I'll be a totally different story being the idiot that I am, but you… you'll be perfect."

"So you really don't think that me keeping this baby is a mistake, Tony? I know at first you felt like it was a very bad idea and didn't want he or she but I just really need to double check about this. I sound so paranoid, but I know that you'll understand where I am coming from."

"I understand where you are coming from." Tony said and drew her a little bit closer to him, "I love the baby already, Ziva. I may not be the best father but I want to be a good father. Now maybe the mommy should go to bed and get some sleep. If you don't mind, I think that I will just sleep on the couch. I'm feeling a little bit too tired and filled up on Chinese food and oversized elves to be driving myself home."

"Don't be ridiculous, Tony. We've slept in a bed together many times before. Don't sleep on the couch, you'll have a bad back in the morning."

"Ziva, I am perfectly fine on the couch. I am only going to take you up on the offer if you're absolutely sure about it."

She gave him a look that challenged him and he sighed in defeat and shut off the movie, following her to her bedroom.

* * *

><p>Abby and Ziva had spent most of their Saturday at the mall thanks to the blessing of no cases coming up so far over the weekend. The forensic scientist always insisted on shopping at the cute little baby stores and if she had her way Abby would probably buy everything in the store. Ziva was reluctant about starting to buy things, especially because she wanted to wait until she knew what the baby was until she started buying outfits and other items. Abby managed to convince Ziva to get a few little staple outfits that were unisex and could be used for either a boy or a girl. The ninja chick just found it so overwhelming to be buying such tiny clothes. Not that her baby would be in those clothes for long as babies seemed to grow so fast.<p>

Once Abby was satisfied that they had enough for the baby as they could possibly buy this early on they decided to find a health food place to go and have lunch. Ziva was being careful to eat as healthy as she possibly could in order to keep herself and the baby healthy. She also took multivitamins that her OB/GYN had recommended to her for proper pre-natal care.

"I have a feeling that a certain Auntie Abby is going to be spoiling her niece or nephew rotten." Ziva sighed, not sure how she felt about that.

"I wouldn't feel right if I didn't spoil her rotten, Ziva!" Abby grinned, "It just wouldn't be right to not spoil such a wonderful little being. She is going to be my niece, after all!"

"Abby, we don't know if the baby is a girl or a boy yet and won't know that for quite a while." Ziva raised her eyebrows. "How do you know if it is a he or a she?"

"I just have a feeling that the baby is going to be a girl. Which means Anthony DiNozzo will be turning in to over protective father who is ready to shoot any boy that goes near her."

"Pity the poor child and any boy they may meet after the age of 15 or so if the baby really is a girl who's stuck with Tony as a father."

"Want to know what would have been worse than Tony as a father?" Abby asked.

"Gibbs." Ziva said, not even needing Abby to tell her that.

"Yeah, that would be correct." Abby smirked, "Females of the world who are trying to date should be very glad that they do not have Leroy Jethro Gibbs as their father or they wouldn't be having their first date until they were 67 years old."

"Sixty seven may just be pushing the age a little bit too far, Abby. Try maybe 21 or 22 and that's probably the age that you'd be allowed to start dating at." Ziva chuckled. "Gibbs would have made a very good father though."

"He is a very good father, Ziva." Abby pointed out. "The best father that anyone could ever have, actually."

Ziva nodded, "I agree, you are right."

The ninja chick was glad to get the day out with her friend and have the chance to discuss things that she normally wouldn't discuss with Abby during a normal day at work. She was glad that she had the chance to get away from Tony for a little while because sometimes his constant worrying over her and his health became a little bit more than just annoying. Ziva needed to get away sometimes and Abby was always quick to offer a day out on the town. She was unsure of what she would do without friends like the forensic scientist.

_Out on the ocean sailing away, I can hardly wait. To see you to come of age but I guess we'll both just have to be patient. Yes it's a long way to go but in the meantime… _


	5. Could Have Swept It out of Your Life

**A/N: I wasn't going to post this until tomorrow, but I figured that I would post this before I went to sleep tonight. We see a little bit of Tony being a major cutie at the last scene here. However, I'm not going to spoil it. ;) Enjoy, and please... press the review button? I have up to chapter 10 or 11 done now.**

I don't own anything at all in this story. Just the future baby.

Tony and Ziva sat quietly together in front of a computer going through the real estate and rentals section of a local newspaper's website. Ziva was on a quest to find a nice apartment for her and Tony to live in and that perhaps they could also grow in to, just in case she and Tony actually lasted. She wanted just a simple two bedroom in a nicer area but still within a reasonable distance to easily drive to work. Tony knew that Ziva had a lot of demands but he was determined that he wanted to find something for Ziva and make it work. He wanted his future child to have a nice home as well.

They added yet another place to the list of place's they had to go and check out and Ziva was slowly becoming a little bit more relaxed with each place that they thought may be a candidate. She wasn't even showing yet but she felt as if the baby was coming so much sooner than it really was.

"This place looks nice, Zi." Tony offered, as he clicked on different pictures of the inside, "It looks pretty big, too. There will be lots of space for the kid to run around when they get to that stage in their life."

"You should add that one to the list then, Tony." Ziva said, "It looks like we're going to have a long day ahead of us, with calling these places and all."

"Thank goodness that it's a Saturday."

Tony's cell phone rang and he looked at Ziva and then answered his phone. He knew that he couldn't ignore this call because it was Gibbs who was calling for him. He sighed in disappointment because he had to meet Gibbs and McGee over at Norfolk Naval Base. Gibbs also ordered him to tell Ziva that she was to go to NCIS and was not to come to the crime scene today. Tony wasn't exactly sure how he was going to break that one to her and secretly hated Gibbs for making Tony do the dirty deed.

"We have to go to work, don't we?" Ziva asked, sounding slightly frustrated. It was not the first time that they had been called in on a weekend, but this weekend was different for Ziva. She had preparations to make for her baby and she was disappointed that they had to be put on hold.

"I have to go to the Naval Lodging and you have to go back to NCIS. That's the boss man's orders." Tony sighed, "You could call some of the places from work, Zi. Maybe see if we could get a viewing time set up for a few of them sometime this week. I promise, we can get this stuff done and deal with work."

The ninja chick grumbled, "I am going to go and get ready for work. You leave now or Gibbs is going to chop off your man bits. I'll see you back at NCIS in a few hours."

Tony nodded and scurried to get his shoes and almost forgot his car keys on the way out. With a slam of the door he was gone to meet Gibbs at the scene of the crime and Ziva was left in the apartment by herself. She showered and then grabbed fresh clothing, and realized that getting on her jeans was starting to become a slight struggle. She wasn't ready to go out and buy new clothes yet but she realized that skinny jeans were now out of the question. Ziva settled for a looser pair of grey dress slacks and a royal blue turtle neck. With that she headed off to work for the day.

When Ziva got to NCIS she was shocked to find that Abby was sitting at her desk, spinning around in circles on the chair.

"Abby, what are you doing here?" Ziva asked, "I thought that you would be downstairs in your lab waiting to get some stuff to run from the crime scene."

"No, there isn't much from the crime scene right now until they all get back from Norfolk. Didn't Tony tell you what happened?" Abby asked.

"No, Tony did not tell me what happened. What did happen, Abby?"

"A child went missing from the Naval lodging place that we had to deal with before around the time that my crazy ex boyfriend was being a stalker. She's been gone for about three hours now and seeing as she's only four years old, we got called in right away to start looking for her and determine if she just ran off or if she was taken."

"Oh my, I feel bad for her poor mother." Ziva sighed, "I hope that the child merely ran off and got lost. If she did, Gibbs would be able to find the little one right away and she'll be reunited with her family."

"Imagine how scared she probably is right now. I'd be terrified if I was four years old and lost in a city. Wouldn't you be?"

"That is a question I think I am unable to answer, Abby."

Ziva could remember at only the fragile age of four years old her father would purposely blind fold her and then place her somewhere in the Mossad Headquarters and then expect her to find her way back to where he was within a certain amount of time. If she didn't get back to her father within fifteen minutes Eli would tell her that she had failed and then make her try again- with less time. Eli was a terrible man and it reflected on how he raised his children. The thing Ziva hated the most was being eight and blindfolded in the woods with her brother and sister and trying to find their way out together. Yet when she was much younger she idolized her father. Ziva knew that she was blind and completely stupid and her mother was right to take her and her sister away from the man.

The life that Ziva had was the life she knew she did not want her own child to have. She was going to do all that she possibly could to guarantee the baby had a stable environment and was always safe. Her baby wasn't going to grow up to be a heartless and ruthless killer like she had been trained to be. Her baby wasn't going to have daddy issues like both her and Tony had experienced. Ziva wanted to protect her baby from every little bad thing in the world.

"Earth to Ziva, are you with me?" Abby asked. "Or do I need Gibbs to come back and slap the back of your head?"

"I am sorry, Abby. I was just thinking about things. I guess I do that a lot lately now that I am pregnant and all. It's a lot to think about and deal with for me." Ziva sighed, "Until Tony gets back I guess I need to start calling the places that we were supposed to call."

"Places that you were supposed to call?" Abby asked, interested and curious. "What kind of places, Ziva?"

"Tony and I were just thinking about getting a bigger apartment together. Neither of our places are big enough for a baby and I want to live in a different area. I know that it could possibly be a bad idea for us to move in together and we were planning on waiting a while longer before we did find a place but I just have this urge to start working on a baby's room and buying things like a crib and other furniture."

"I can probably stay up here for another thirty minutes or so. Give me half of the numbers on the list you have and I'll help you call them. You're setting up times that you can view the places, right?"

"Yeah, that's about it for now. We're just trying to look at as many places as possible and then see how it goes from there." Ziva said, "I really hope this isn't a mistake."

"Ziva, Tony promised you that he had your back and he wanted to be there for you and the baby. So this is not a mistake. The two of you are going to be just fine and maybe it'll be even better when the baby finally arrives. You just don't know yet until the time comes."

"I suppose you are right, Abby. Being pregnant and hormonal all the time just makes me have my doubts more often than I really should."

* * *

><p>At the crime scene Gibbs, McGee, and Tony were searching the surrounding area as well as they possibly could. They were joined by the local Leo's and the child's parents remained at the lodge just in case the little one found her way back and got scared and ran off again when she couldn't find anyone there. All of them were trying their hardest to try and find the little girl as it was the middle of December and she had went missing in only her pajamas and bunny slippers.<p>

"Come on, McGeek, we can check over here to see if there's any signs of the kid." Tony said, "There isn't any signs at all that she's been kidnapped so she must have just been scared of something and run off. Boss said to check as many places as we can."

"I think it's a good idea to check in that direction, Tony." McGee admitted, looking down at the ground for some reason.

"Do you, Probie Wan Kenobi?" Tony asked, "Why would you happen to be agreeing with me on the direction that I want to go?"

Ignoring the Probie Wan comment, McGee pointed down to a very small shoe print in the snow, "That is definitely four year old sized, Tony and it's fresh."

Both of the agents head off in the direction of the little shoe prints, hoping that they found the little girl that they were desperately searching for. They also hoped that she wasn't injured and was not suffering the symptoms of hypothermia. At four years old she was much more vulnerable to the elements and was more likely to just sit down somewhere and stop moving.

"Hey, McGee, there's more tracks going over this way!" Tony shouted, running ahead of him. "I think she might possibly be close now."

The two of them had been walking for about fifteen minutes now and they had all been searching for a total of 3 hours, which meant the girl had been exposed to the elements for a total of six long hours. Tony found a little girl sitting under a tree in a little park in the area. He crouched down beside her and visually checked to see If she needed any immediate hospital attention, but decided to ask her name first.

"Hey, I'm Special Agent Tony." He said, showing her his _shiny _badge. "Can I ask you what your name is?"

"My daddy said that I'm not allowed to talk to strangers." The little girl said, warily eyeing both Tony and McGee. "He said that talking to strangers was a bad thing. Unless they're police officers or Navy people. My daddy said Marines are good guys.

"Well my friend and I are kind of like police officers. We're police officers for the Navy, and your daddy did say that you could talk to Navy people, right?" Tony coaxed.

The little girl bit her lip and looked up at him with wide blue eyes, "I guess that's right." She said, though her 'right' more sounded like 'white'.

"So can you maybe tell me and my friend Timmy what your name is, please?"

"Madison O'Reilly." The little girl said. Tony assumed that the little one had many issues with saying her R's because anything with an R in it she said it with a W. He couldn't believe that he was so taken with how a child spoke when they were young, but now that he knew he had a little baby coming everything seemed so different to him.

"Are you hurt, Madison?" McGee asked her. "Did you maybe fall or get a scrape or a bruise?"

Tony noticed that she was cradling her arm to herself, "Is your arm hurt?" he asked her, trying to be more specific with how they asked if they were hurt or not.

"I slipped and fell on some ice." Madison said solemnly, "It really hurts and I cried but it happened a long time ago now. Maybe even hours ago! So I don't need to cry anymore, I just need to make sure that I don't move it and then my arm will be all better."

"I'm going to phone Gibbs now and let him and the others know that we have her and we're going to bring her back now." McGee said to Tony and he went a few feet away, making the call to the boss man.

"You must be cold, Madison." Tony said, trying not to cause a fuss over her arm which he knew she'd have to be taken to the hospital for. He also wondered how the girl managed to not have severe symptoms of hypothermia after being outside for so long. He took off his coat and put it around the girl, "You get to wear my _very _special NCIS jacket now."

"Can I wear the hat, too?" the girl whispered.

"Of course you can." Tony took off his hat and placed it on her head. It fell down over her eyes but little Madison didn't seem to care too much about that. "Now I'm going to pick you up and we're going to take you back to your mommy and daddy, okay? Maybe you'll even get a nice and warm hot chocolate."

Madison nodded and Tony picked her up, and she placed the arm that wasn't hurting her around his neck. McGee clicked his phone shut and the three headed back towards the lodge and where they had the headquarters for the search for the missing child who was now thankfully found.

"I'm really cold but I don't know if I want to go back to see my mommy and daddy. I think they're going to be mad at me for leaving but I got scared."

"What did you get scared of?" Tony asked her. "Did something happen to make you try to run away?"

"Mommy and daddy were yelling at each other and I kept on asking them to stop but they didn't hear me so I decided I would leave until they stopped being so mad at each other but I went too far away and I forgot how I was going to get back. So I got scared and hid under a table at some shop where people were ordering things called cup of chimo's. Then I decided that I should leave, so I ran out of there and then hid under that tree because it looked pretty to me."

So she was in a coffee shop for the most part, then. "Just because your mommy and daddy were yelling at each other doesn't mean that you need to be scared. Sometimes mommy's and daddy's are just silly and they have something called stress and that makes them yell." Tony explained to her.

"Oh, well I hope the stress is done now." Madison mumbled, "I don't want any more yelling and I want mommy and daddy to feel better."

"I am just sure that your parents will be happy to see you." Tony gave the child a reassuring smile.

McGee gave Tony an odd stare and he just brushed it off. The two of them returned back to the lodging and the parents of Madison both were crying tears of joy as Tony handed the father his daughter back. Tony couldn't even imagine how relieved the two of them must have felt even though they would have to take their child to a hospital to get checked out. At least she was okay and didn't end up dying of exposure. He couldn't help thinking about what he would do if his child ever went missing and he had to sit back and wait for someone else to try and find them. He _wouldn't _be able to do it.

_Didn't have to keep it, wouldn't put ya through it. You could have swept it from your life, but you wouldn't do it. No, you wouldn't do it. _


	6. She Is

**A/N: I am in a very baby-ish mood today! My nephew was born today and is a healthy and nameless (still) little guy. So this chapter is dedicated to him. Again- please, review? Gives me the motivation to actually log on to this account during my busy life and post a chapter for you guys to read. Second last year of High School is not easy, and I could be updating much less. ;)**

**I don't own any song lyrics (italics) in this story and all credit to the artists of that song and their record company. All recognizable characters are property of the creators of NCIS and CBS, yaddah yaddah..**

Tony and Ziva both had their eyes fixed on the ultrasound monitor where the baby came up on the screen. She was now twelve weeks along and the baby's ultrasound picture was a lot more distinguished than the past few had been for them. Ziva already had plans to frame this picture of her baby and Tony had mentioned something about wanting to get one to put on his desk. Their favorite part though was every time that they got to hear the little baby's heart beating like a drum. The baby's heart was beating fast and strong and the two of them were getting excited for the arrival of their child, even though they still had a while to wait.

They left the doctors with two pictures of their baby's ultrasound and then headed off to the little house that they had decided on buying in the end. It was a two level with a basement and two bedroom's in the upstairs with the full bathroom. The basement was also used as a bedroom and an entertainment room. Then it had the typical kitchen and living room. It was a place that was perfect for a small little _family. _The cost of the house wasn't even horribly expensive and in the end they'd probably save more money buying a house then continuing to rent an apartment.

The two wasn't ready to move in to the place yet as it was still being painted and they were deciding on how to furnish their new house. They sold a lot of furniture from their old places so they could save themselves money when buying new furniture. Tony was never a man that was known to be frugal but with a baby coming there was a lot that they were going to need.

"I like the colors that we have in this living room." Ziva admired, "It feels sophisticated yet it feels family friendly."

Tony nodded, agreeing that the beige walls with the chocolate brown trim was actually a nice idea and worked out well, "After all that fighting over the color of the living room, I agree that this is actually very nice."

"See Tony, you shouldn't bother fighting with a pregnant lady. I am always going to get my way and prove that I was right about what I said, too."

He glared, "No need to get so smart ass-like about it, Zi."

She smirked, "You are just angry that I was actually right and that we have a nice looking living room now." Ziva sat down on the only one chair that was in their house. It was one of those ugly chairs that you found in a school.

"I am not angry about anything." He grumbled, going to the kitchen and grabbing a slice of cold pizza from the fridge. They definitely needed to get more food and drinks in this place while they spent time working on it and getting it to a point where they could live in it.

"Well then maybe you should act like you aren't mad about anything." Ziva had decided to join him in the kitchen and grab a cold slice of pizza for herself. "Do you want to head out now and finish some more of this stuff tomorrow?"

Tony nodded and they ate their pizza in silence and made sure that all their supplies were properly put away and then headed out of the house, making sure to turn on the alarm system before they left. They went on their separate ways to their own apartments as today had been another fairly tense day between the two of them. They had spent all the time before Ziva's appointment with the doctor arguing about their house and how they were going to do the interior of it. So it was best for the two of them to just get away from each other for the night.

Ziva decided to unwind by eating a bag of popcorn that she drowned in chocolate sauce and dill pickle seasoning and flicking on The Sound of Music. She smiled at the familiar opening song and contentedly ate her strange and normally disgusting mixture of food. To Ziva the food was wonderful, as it satisfied her cravings completely.

Back at Tony's house Tony was pacing his apartment while looking at the black and white image of his unborn child. He saw the little hands and the little feet and everything to him just looked so _little. _It stressed Tony out to think of how little the child would be. Everything in the world was so big and so vicious and he or she was defenseless. Tony was also thinking of Ziva and the house that they had bought together. Years of not going on vacation for "Spring Break" had saved a lot of money for Tony and Ziva was never the one to spend her money rashly as it was. So the house wasn't that big of a deal for them. Just pay the mortgage every month and the land taxes and the two of them would have it made. They spent much more money on the rent in the run of a year than they would on actually investing their money in a house.

Tony was resisting the urge to call Ziva just to hear her voice. He actually missed her even though they saw each other every day and even though they fought with each other almost every day.

* * *

><p>Tony walked in to work the next morning to find Ziva sitting at her desk and crying. For once she didn't look like she was just crying because of the hormones but because something was actually seriously wrong and Tony needed to find out what the problem was. He walked over to Ziva's desk and stood behind her chair, putting his hands on her shoulders and soothingly massaging them.<p>

"Zi, what's the matter?" Tony asked, with concern lacing his voice.

"There is someone here in NCIS that I refuse to see but he will not leave without seeing me." Ziva sniffled, "I do not know what to do and Gibbs is up there in the Director's Office telling the person off now."

"Who is the person that is here to see you?"

"My father has come here from Israel as he has heard news of the pregnancy and is not to happy about it. He is here to voice his opinion and is demanding that I go back to Israel."

"He has no right to be here and he has no right to be telling you where you should be living. He has no right to express distaste about you having a baby. If anything he should be proud that he is going to have a grandchild. Of course his ways cannot allow him to do that."

"I agree with you Tony, in fact that is what I have been thinking. I refuse to see him, I don't want to see that monster again! I especially don't want to see a monster who doesn't want me to have my baby and is not willing to at least congratulate me."

"You don't have to see him then, Ziva." Tony assured, "He can just leave without seeing you, it's a free country and if you don't want to see him then you don't have to."

"He will just end up staying at the Embassy until he can see me, Tony." Ziva sighed. "I should see him and get it over with now and then I will go back to my life and he can go back to his. Surely he can't stay away from his precious job for too long."

Ziva gets up, mentally preparing herself to face her father and his wrath over her unborn child. Then she looked back at Tony who was frowning.

"Can I come with you, Ziva?" he asked. "I want to be there with you and be there for you."

"I was just going to ask you if you would come with me to support me while I do this." Ziva said, sheepishly. "It's going to take a lot for me to stand up to Eli. As I have said before, he is a man that is all but dead to me."

"Alright, we should go and get this over with then. So Director David can get out of our domain."

Ziva nodded at Tony and they climbed the stairs up to Director Vance's office and glared at the secretary who allowed her entrance in to the director's office. The three men that were already in there all stopped their arguing and all of their eyes landed on Ziva. Ziva's eyes were fixed on her father, who now said nothing at all.

"I am here so that you will leave sooner." Ziva said, darkly. "So now we are going to get this over with and I am not going to keep this a private conversation between us. If the current people in the room wish to stay, then let them stay. I am tired of you always trying to control my life and having no value for my happiness. You have never even truly valued my life and I am done dealing with that. I have said that you are dead to me and I mean that." She placed a hand on her stomach. "This baby is a baby that I am going to keep, because my child deserved to have a good like and I am not going to consider terminating a pregnancy just because the Director of Mossad thinks that I should do so."

"Ziva, the baby is not the baby of a Jewish man. It is not our tradition to do such things." Eli snapped.

"You know I have never been one for upholding the traditions, and I would not care if the baby was a child of a Cuban, or an Iranian. I do not care how my baby turns out or who the father of my baby is. My baby is my baby and I am glad that I _do _know who the father of my child is. So what if she is the child of an American with Italian roots. I do not care!"

"I never should have let you come here, Ziva. I never should have let you go through with applying for citizenship in this country. You would have been better off with Mossad."

"If I was still with Mossad I would have been dead years ago, _Eli. _I would have been dead in Somalia at the hands of Saleem and his men. I am happy in America and you are going to have to deal with that. I am proud of my country and I serve this country."

"Ziva, you must listen to me."

"No!" she yelled, "I will not listen to you! I have told you that I am done with this and that I am done with you. You either support me or you don't and I have seen what your choice is. I have come here and you have now seen me and had your chance to talk to me, so you may go back to Israel and stay out of my life. You will have a grandchild that you will never know, all because you care a little bit too much about tradition. _Goodbye, _father."

Ziva stomped out of the director's office and four men remained in the office all four of them just as shocked as the other. Before anyone else had recovered Tony started clapping his hands loudly and mockingly, as he glared at Ziva's father. The look on Tony's face said it all as he continued to clap loudly.

"Well, I hope that you're proud of yourself, Director David. You've just made the mistake of pissing off my pregnant partner. Even if you did want her forgiveness, you're not going to be getting it any time soon. So maybe you might want to jump back on that plane to Israel and try not to contact my partner anymore. You can get a start on that by getting out of this building and getting out of our sight."

With that Tony had left the office searching for Ziva who was most likely having a melt down because of her father and his stupid choices. He found her back in the bull pen and sitting at her desk, though shockingly she seemed fine. The only thing that was different was that she was quickly eating a bag of sour gummy worms. Ziva hardly gave in to the cravings she had, mostly because she wanted to eat as healthy as she could to ensure proper nutrition for herself and the baby. So if Ziva gave in to her cravings, she definitely had to be mad.

"Ziva, are you alright?" Tony asked.

"I will be alright once Eli David has left this building. I will be happy when Eli David leaves this country and does not return to it."

"He's stupid for not wanting to be involved with the life of our child, Zi. He or she is going to be a perfect baby."

"Yes, I guess so." Ziva sighed, "Tell Gibbs that I am going to go home now, Tony. I need to be by myself for a while and I'd let to get out of here before I even have to look at my father's face again."

"I thought that we were going to go back to the house and continue working on it?" Tony asked.

"Maybe we can work on the house later on." Ziva said, "After I cool down some."

Tony watched as Ziva hurried out of the bull pen and he sighed softly and returned to his desk, turning on his computer and starting up some paper work. He didn't want her to be upset anymore, he wanted to be here at NCIS with him or at their new house with him.

_This is gonna to break me clean in two. This is gonna to bring me close to you. She is everything I need that I never knew I wanted. She is everything I want that I never knew I needed._


	7. For You I'd Bleed Myself Dry

**A/N: I'm getting really excited for the future chapters when the baby arrives. I've always thought that babies were the cutest little things, but when my nephew was born they became more than just "cute". They're wonderful and I can't wait to bring a baby in to the story! So, enjoy.**

**As usual, the stuff where there's song lyrics and such, they're obviously not mine.  
><strong>**All recognized characters are not mine.**

Ever since Eli David had made the visit to NCIS Ziva had changed once again. She became more reserved and even refused to talk to Tony about most things in her life. They only communicated when they had to go to her doctor's appointments to check on the progress of their baby. A month had passed since Eli had visited and Tony was becoming worried about Ziva who was now 16 weeks along in her pregnancy. Their house decorating and designing was at a complete stand still as Ziva wasn't all that open to moving out of her own apartment at the current time. Tony spend most of his time working on the place by himself, as he wanted to get moved in because they still had to pay rent on top of the mortgage until they got out of their own places.

Tony had frequently found himself sitting in the room that he and Ziva decided would be for the baby. The two upstairs bedrooms in their house were pretty large, it was good for when the baby started growing out of the nursery stage. Tony couldn't believe that he found himself frequently sitting in a room that was going to be his child's room. He still had the feeling of everything being so unreal.

He heard the door opening downstairs and he instantly put his hand on his gun, though he wasn't sure if he wanted to pull it out. If it was someone who didn't have a key to the place then the alarm's would have gone off. He cautiously went down the stairs to see Ziva standing quietly in the living room, looking around with a thin smile on her face.

"It's coming together very nicely, Tony." She commented quietly, "I can see that you've been working hard to get this place done. I like that book case, too."

"That book case was a gift to us from Gibbs." Tony replied, "He made it himself and then asked me the color scheme of our place and painted it himself."

Ziva bit down on her lip, "I am sorry about this last month." Ziva apologized, "Ever since my father came I have just not been able to gather my thoughts and make them clear to myself. I took it out on you and I took it out on the rest of the team. Not only did I take it out on the team, I took it out on _family."_

"No one really blames you for anything, Ziva. Of course I was mad for a while that you were ignoring me and wouldn't even speak to me unless you absolutely had to, but I am over that now. We understand that having to talk to your father is never an easy thing for you and that it probably would put you off for a few days. We just didn't expect it to be as long as it was."

"Well I guess the good thing is that it is the past, yes?" The ninja chick smiled, "As I have heard many people say we should let the past be the past. Now it's time to deal with the future and perhaps I should start dealing with it. I am certainly not getting any less pregnant."

"No, you are not getting any less pregnant." Tony smiled, looking at her stomach that only had the smallest little bump that was easily hidden by the loose shirts that she preferred to wear now. Over the next few months she was probably really going to start showing and Tony actually couldn't wait for that to happen even though he knew that brought on the typical aches and pains for the pregnant woman.

"How much have you done with this place?" Ziva asked, looking around at the still generally empty house with just a few pieces of furniture here and there. It definitely looked a lot better than what it did the last time she saw it.

"I have the painting in our bedroom done, the downstairs bedroom, kitchen, bathroom, downstairs bathroom and the downstairs entertainment room. I think we should leave the baby's room until we know the sex of the baby and then paint it."

"I do not think I would know what to do without you, Tony. You have been so helpful now that you're warming up to the baby. I still think I have a bit more warming up to do myself, though."

"It will come in time, Ziva. I just want to make sure this house is ready well before the baby is due to arrive. I want the both of us to be living in this place and leaving from this place in a rush to the hospital. I want the baby to come home to this place that he or she is going to call home for hopefully a long time."

"I see that you have done what I told you when I first found out that I was pregnant." Ziva said, "You have definitely grown a pair."

Tony shrugged and took Ziva's hand, "Come on, I'll show you what each room looks like so far. I think we're actually ready to start moving some big furniture in. My bed set matches with the room downstairs and we've already determined that you want yours up in our bedroom."

"I guess that means we need to go shopping soon."

"Maybe we should be thinking about having a yard sale, as well."

"Not this early in the new year, Tony." Ziva smiled.

"I know, we can have one later on when the temperature starts warming up and the snow is completely gone until Christmas time."

Tony led Ziva up the stairs of their house and the smell of fresh paint was prominent in the air. He took her in to the bedroom and waited expectantly for her opinion on how the place looked. She was silent for a little while and then slowly nodded, giving her sign of approval.

"It looks very nice, Tony." She commented, "I like it. The colors feel very relaxing."

"Relaxing enough that you could sleep comfortably in here?" he asked, hopefully.

Ziva nodded, "Yes, relaxing enough that I could sleep comfortably in here." She said.

Tony grinned and continued to show her around the rest of the rooms that he had proudly painted on his own and actually managed to make them look good. The two of them went in to the baby's room and Ziva stopped and sighed slightly.

"This is it, isn't it?"

"Well, I guess it is. It'll probably become more official once we find out what the baby is and then start working on the bedroom. Yeah, it does seem like this is it, though."

* * *

><p>Ziva sat at her desk in the bull pen and grumbled to herself about not being able to do interviews anymore when out in the field. Her interrogation rights had even been taken away from her as she was slowly but surely starting to show. It still wasn't even all that bad when she wore her loose clothing, but wearing the loose clothes made it more obvious for Ziva as it did look like she was trying to hide something.<p>

"Complaining about it isn't going to help you any, Ziver." Gibbs said, looking at both McGee and Tony. "The two of you can gear up, we've got a case."

"Where are we going, boss?"

"We've got a body in Quantico."

"Well surely I can go to at least observe something." Ziva insisted.

"Ziva, I have told you that you are going to stay here and do paperwork." Gibbs said, "You can do stuff like collect reports from Abby and Ducky once we get to that point in the investigation. Actually, just go down and see if Abby needs help with anything and keep her company. _Don't _come to the crime scene."

Ziva glared at the three men on her team rolled out of the place and she was left behind to just do paperwork and talk to people. She waited for a few minutes and then got up and went down to Abby's Lab to try and see if there was anything she could possibly do there.

"Ziva!" Abby grinned, "Ziva, I missed you!"

"I have been here at NCIS all this time, Abby." Ziva said.

"I know, but you haven't been down here in my lab for such a long time. It made me sad."

"Abby, I was down here on Friday when Gibb's asked me to come and collect a report for him."

"Ziva, don't make this difficult for me. If I say that I have missed you, then I have clearly missed you and nothing is going to change that."

"Well, alright then." Ziva said, raising her eyebrows. "Is there anything that I can do to help you right now, Abby?"

"No, I don't really need any help with anything because I don't have anything to really work with yet." Abby shook her head, "I hope this is an easy case."

"Why is that?"

"I am trying to quit the caffeine again."

"Anything I should know about Abby?" Ziva smirked.

"What? No way, I am not pregnant!"

"Are you sure about that? You and McGee seem to be smitten."

"We are not smitten, Ziva. Unlike you and Tony we are aware of the whole rule twelve situation and would prefer to avoid the wrath of Gibbs."

"I am already receiving the full blown wrath of Gibbs." Ziva sighed, "I have only gained about seven pounds right now and have just the smallest little bump that is only noticeable when I have a fitted shirt on and he has me benched. I am not even allowed to do interrogation anymore, not even if he or Tony were in the room."

"I think he is actually just concerned about you and your unborn child. It's not that he's taking it out on you, it's that he's trying to protect you. Gibbs just works in really odd ways." Abby explained, "Don't be mad at him, Ziva. It's just his way of showing concern."

"I am still capable of going to a crime scene and talking to witnesses. I would understand if I was about 22 or 23 weeks along but I am only 18 weeks. Gibbs is torturing me and so is Tony!"

"Ziva, Gibbs is like your father figure and he's just being protective of you in his own little way. Tony, he's just Tony. He doesn't even know what to do with himself now that he knows he's going to be a father and he's worried about you. Tony needs a little bit of credit because at least he's trying. You deserve a medal for all that you have been through so far, but Tony is getting pretty close to deserving a medal as well."

"I know that Tony deserves a medal, Abby. I just miss doing my job and being out on the field. It feels as if it's one of the only things I live for sometimes."

"Well now you have your baby to live for and we can't be risking his or her life if you go to a scene just to interview someone and the killer is nearby. Then what would happen? They could come out and shoot you and then you could risk losing it all. Do you want to lose your baby, Ziva?"

"No, I do not want to lose the baby, Abby." Ziva sighed.

"Then start acting like you don't want to lose the baby, Ziva!" Abby snapped, "You are sounding so selfish in all of this. You sound as if you don't even value the life of your unborn child. Well, maybe you don't value the baby's life but there are people around here that do value him or her. Tony values that little baby, Gibbs values the baby, I value the baby and even McGee values that baby! Now it's time for you to jump on our band wagon, and you better do it quickly!"

The ninja chick held back the tears that were threatening to spill and she turned on her heel and walked out of Abby's lab as calmly as she could. As soon as she was in the elevator she pushed the button to stop it and sat down in the corner of the elevator, deciding to let the tears fall in secrecy. Abby had just accused her of not valuing the life of her own unborn child and it had stung Ziva. She cared deeply about her little baby. She was the one who had already been carrying the little one for eighteen weeks and she had to carry the baby for many more weeks. She was the one who got to feel the little one moving around and 'kick boxing' inside of her. She cared more about the baby than anyone else did. She and Tony cared the most about the baby. No one could tell her any different, not even an angry Abby.

_You're skin, oh yeah, you're skin and bones. Turn in to something beautiful. Do you know? For you I'd bleed myself dry. For you I'd bleed myself_ dry.

**Reviews, please?**


	8. All American Girl

**A/N: Thanks for all the lovely reviews and input guys! Just to clear up some things I would like to say that no, Abby is NOT pregnant. Abby was just having some 'bitchy Abby' time. Probably a Caf-Pow! shortage. To the person who was suggesting that I made the chapters longer... most of these chapters are over 2200 words long and I would like to make them longer but I can't. I have the attention span of a toddler or after a while I start running in to severe writers block so I've decided that just over 2000 word chapters are good enough for me. Please, keep those reviews coming. :)**

**Usual disclaimer... don't own stuff... bla bla bla.**

At twenty weeks pregnant Ziva seemed to become more irritable by the day and her food cravings were becoming crazier and crazier. Tony and Ziva had finally finished their new house and left their old places, leaving behind the world of renting. Most nights Tony ended up sleeping in the guest bedroom that they had down in the basement because Ziva always seemed to be pissed off at him. If Tony wasn't stuck down in the basement he was out most times at one or two in the morning trying to find a place that was offering food that would satisfy Ziva's latest cravings. He wouldn't date tell her no or he'd probably never live to see his child's first day on the planet.

"You don't look too well, Mr. DiNozzo." Ziva's doctor commented, as she spread the jelly like stuff on Ziva's stomach for the ultrasound that would hopefully tell them what their baby was. They didn't attempt to try and see what the gender of the baby was any earlier just in case it turned out to be wrong.

Ziva glared at Tony and he shrugged, "I am feeling fine, I have just been having some long nights lately. My work is hard on me."

The doctor laughed, "If you think work is hard on you, wait until the baby comes. You'll wish that work was the only hard thing you did have in your life for the first few days after the baby is home."

"We're prepared for it." Ziva said, confidently. "We are looking in to some prenatal classes so that way we'll know what to expect for the labour and delivery and the first few weeks at home."

"I can give you a list of places that I would recommend if you would like some."

"We would." Ziva said, looking at the screen of the ultrasound. Both she and Tony paid close attention to the ultrasound and were hoping that the baby was positioned well enough to tell them what they had wanted to know for a while now. The two of them hadn't even thought of deciding on names by that point and knowing the sex of the child would help them with that task a little bit.

The doctor pointed out a few things on the screen and made some comments about how the baby and the development. Finally the words were coming that the two of them wanted to hear as they intently watched the screen with fascination. "Congratulations. I am 99% sure right now that you guys are going to be having a baby girl."

* * *

><p>Ziva stood in a store full of lots of small baby clothing and looked extremely puzzled as to where she was supposed to start first. It was even worse that she had decided to take Tony with her and he looked even more puzzled than even she was. Clearly they needed someone with them who was good at picking out baby clothes but the two needed to learn how to deal with this kind of stuff on their own.<p>

"Maybe we should start with weird one piece sleeper things." Ziva finally sighed, "It can't be that hard to pick out a few of those."

"When you're an NCIS Agent and an ex Mossad assassin I actually think it is going to be extremely hard to pick out a few of those."

"I don't think our job occupations or previous occupations can affect the ability of how we pick out baby clothing, Tony."

He shrugged and picked up a plain pink sleeper that had a matching little floral hat to go with it, "I guess not." He said, "Do you think this looks kind of cute, Ziva?"

"It's simple." Ziva said, "I like simple. I don't want our child growing up to be some overly spoiled brat who thinks they will get everything that they ask for."

"I guess you'll be putting me in my place quite often, then."

"I already knew that I would have to be doing that the moment that the doctor said that we were going to have a little girl."

Tony placed the little outfit that he had found in their basket and Ziva picked out a few more little sleepers and a couple of those things that went under the baby's clothing. She disliked that she was so unsure of what to do when it came to buying things and just how much of what she should be buying. She had heard some people say not to buy too many newborn sized clothing because they would grow out of the stuff in the blink of an eye. Babies were just little beings that Ziva was not comfortable with.

Even more problems came when they were trying to figure out what to put in the baby's room. Her and Tony couldn't even agree on the type of crib to buy or the color of the stuff that was going to go in the room. Ziva had wanted the room to be a light purple and Tony wanted to go all out pink for his little girl. Ziva got her way after some intense glaring and days of ignoring him and refusing to speak to him. He had a horrible feeling that these weeks that were left were going to be the longest weeks of his life.

* * *

><p>Tony came in to work looking extremely tired one morning and Ziva had decided to take the day off, so he was glad that he was allowed to grumble and whine a little bit about how home life was. McGee and Gibbs looked up at him and both of them had smirks on their faces that Tony did not appreciated too much.<p>

"Don't look so down, DiNozzo." Gibbs said, "Remember that you were the one who got her pregnant in the first place. Until that baby is in their arms she is going to blame you for that as long as she possibly can."

"I know, I just don't think I can take any more death glares and running out at two in the morning to find some place to get falafel." Tony groaned, "Or I need to go and get the ingredients to make her some random thing that belongs in a compost bucket."

"You could always go and buy strange things and keep them in the house so that way you don't have to leave so early in the morning to try and get Ziva what she wants." McGee suggested, "It's not that hard to buy stuff like pickles, chocolate sauce, Cheetos, and other things."

"How about you try living with this and then see how impossible it feels sometimes, McKnowitall."

"I was just trying to help you out, Tony. No need to be snappier than the pregnant lady herself."

"The both of you can knock it off." Gibbs said, walking up and head slapping Tony, "Or I will tell Ziva that you think she's impossible and make the both of your lives a living hell."

"Shutting up, boss." The both of them say quickly.

"Good, now gear up. We have a case and we're being waited on but the Drama King was late getting in to work this morning."

McGee smirked at Tony who glared back at him with a look that could probably compete with Ziva's most lethal look. McGoo really needed to watch himself today, or Tony would be the one Gibb's slapping him.

Tony carefully walked through the door bracing himself for impact of the storm. He was definitely home extremely late that night and hadn't even called Ziva to let her know that he was going to be in late. He had a feeling that this night would go to the growing list of the many nights he had spent sleeping down in the basement. He was just glad that they didn't have a dog or a dog house or that would be where he would sleep for the night.

"Why are you so late?" Ziva snapped at him.

"We had a lead on the case and McGee and I had to go and check it out before we could leave to go home for the night. I don't even think Gibbs was going to let us go home for the night but he let me go just in case you decided that you wanted to kill me as soon as I walked through the door."

"I would not even be so mad if you would have just called me and told me that you were going to be late. I would have not even cared if Gibbs made you stay the whole night to solve the case as long as you let me know. I know how our job works, Tony. I know that there is late hours and sometimes we can't stop until the case is solved, but you need to at least call me if I am not there and I do not know what is going on." Ziva ranted, "What if something had happened to you and no one knew where you were?"

"Nothing happened to me Ziva, and I am okay." Tony sighed, "It was a long day at work and I am sorry for being home late and not calling you to tell me."

She softened up slightly, "I have made you some supper if you are hungry. I think that it's really time that you kick your pizza for supper every other night habits."

"Are you trying to tell me that I'm getting fat, Ziva?" Tony asked, mocking hurt.

"No, what I am trying to tell you is that when our child starts getting a bit older and see's you eating take out pizza all the time, she is going to want to eat the same thing. I won't allow that to happen to her. Have you read the statistics, Tony? Childhood obesity is out of control in America. I want our baby to be healthy."

"Alright, you win, Zi."

"I know that I win."

Tony shrugged off his suit coat and walked in to the kitchen and was shocked that supper actually looked really good, despite the fact the majority of the plate was green. The two of them usually opted for just getting take out whenever they had to eat together, but Ziva was determined to get back on her track of eating healthy like she had in the first part of her pregnancy. He couldn't help but to place a kiss on her cheek.

"You're wonderful, thank you."

"You are welcome."

"Abby wanted me to give something to you."

Ziva's eyes narrowed slightly. She had not been talking to Abby even since she had told Ziva to start acting like she valued the life of her own child. She knew that Abby was sorry but it was something that made her feel a little bit sore.

"What is it?" Ziva asked, reserved.

Tony took the item in question out of his pocket, "Only one of the most itchy things on the planet." He smiled at the little pink hat. "She was planning on making this ever since she gave us the little booties, but she wanted to make a hat that was more based on the gender of the baby. She just finished this a few days ago, but didn't have the time to give it to me until today."

Ziva took the little hat in her hands, "Abby is such a sweetheart." She admitted, and a little note fell out of the hat.

_Ziva, I'm sorry about what I said.  
>Love,<br>Abby_

"Whatever she said that made you so mad at her she clearly didn't mean it, Ziva." Tony said, "She's sorry and she said that she really misses you. I think that you should come in to work tomorrow and go talk to her."

"I miss Abby, too."

"Then go talk to her, you know that she is going to be glad to see you. She'll probably also want to go shopping for baby things with you. I am just going to warn you."

"The offer won't be turned down."

"I still can't believe that we're going to be having a little girl." Tony muttered, "A little girl… our little girl."

_He could already see him holding that trophy, taking his team to state but when the nurse came in with a little pink blanket, all those big dreams changed._


	9. Stop and Stare

**A/N: I honestly can't thank you guys enough. All your comments that you're making now are going to have an affect on future chapters when I get around to looking over them and making attitude adjustments and such. I didn't want one of those stories where they instantly fall in love within weeks, but I'm straying too far to one side so now I'm going to work to getting it back on track. I like that people bring things to my attention. I also know that I need to work on how to transition things properly. I'm just getting so excited for the baby part that I'm going nuts. Any ways- thank you! You're appreciated. Also, this will be my last chapter posted until the weekend. I have another five or six ready to go, but I need to tweak them! Thanks again.**

Ziva was in week number twenty two of her pregnancy and the complaints were coming even more. Clothes never fit her right and she was constantly hungry and 'ate more than an elephant'. When Tony reminded her that all the discomfort had a good ending result he usually ended up being kicked out of the house for a few hours or ignored for the entire day at work. Apparently a pregnant ex assassin really wasn't the type of person to mess with. Tony often thought of just leaving for a few weeks and asking Gibbs if he could crash on his couch, but he was afraid of his boss and the threat that he had made when they had found out Ziva was expecting. If he screwed this up he'd probably end up in a mental health unit from being screwed up so badly by Gibbs.

Ziva wasn't all lethal and hormonal though, she had a lot of good days and took care of herself as well as Tony. As she gained weight he lost some weight thanks to Ziva's health kick. He was actually glad that he had her and made sure to tell her that often, as it brought a smile to her face.

"We still haven't even really thought about a list of names." Ziva said, while the two of them sat eating a late night dinner after a long day of work for the two of them.

"I'm kind of scared to think about trying to name a baby. The kid is going to be stuck with that name for the rest of her life and it's bad enough that she's stuck with someone like me as a father."

"I am sure that we can come up with a very suitable name for a little girl, Tony. She also won't have to worry about anyone making fun of her because I would never allow them to get away with it."

"Kids are cruel to one another, Zi. She's bound to get made fun of at one point in her life and feel extremely bad about it. We also know that she'll probably do her fair share of gossiping and spreading rumours when she gets a lot older."

"I don't think we need to worry about that kind of stuff right now though, Tony. She isn't even born yet and we're going to need a name for her. So let's just worry about naming her and not about the future trials that all normal children will face at some point in their life time."

"I think as long as we don't name her Leroy or Jethro we probably have it made." Tony chuckled, "At least, one would think so."

"Would you like me to tell Gibbs that you said that, Tony? I'm sure he'd really like to hear that tomorrow morning when he walks in with his coffee. It would give him an excuse to slap you in to the next century."

"I was actually wondering if we could possibly keep that little comment I made between us. So that way I don't end up mysteriously dying and showing up in a garbage bin downtown with no forensic evidence left behind."

"Well if you don't want that to happen start discussing some names with me. I don't even have any that I really like yet. Maybe we should invest in some type of baby naming book?"

"We could just find one of those weird websites online that have a ton of names." Tony suggested, "I've looked a few times while I was at work."

"You have?" Ziva asked, slightly surprised. "So you have been thinking about names and what to call her."

"Sometimes I do, but I just don't think any of the names would sound good. Or sometimes I think that you might not agree with the names. I just don't really know what to do, it seems like naming a child is scarier than knowing that you're going to be a father."

"I know, but we can't just leave it until the last minute. I would like her to have a name when she is born. I know that some people wait and see because they can't decide but I want to have a name ready for her."

"We still have a little while though, Zi. It's not as if you're going to be going in to labour tomorrow. You know what I'm saying?"

"Just tell me some of the names you thought you might want to name her, Tony." Ziva pleaded. "Please?"

Tony paused, "Well I did like the idea of the name Kate, because of Kate… but then I thought that it would just remind me too much of her. I guess I never was a fan of naming a child after someone you knew who died. Then I have thought of the name Claire, Merissa, Allison, Emma, Isabella, and Rosalie."

Ziva made a face at the last two names, "I know that you have read Twilight, but seriously?" she asked, "You'd really be willing to name your child after names from the _Twilight Saga_. No way, I will not allow it!"

"See, I told you, Zi. I just can't name a baby, it's too hard for me to do. Not to mention half of the names people typically name their kids are names of people who we know that are dead. Kate and Jenny are names I could never bring myself to use."

"I know how you feel." Ziva said, taking her plate and rinsing it and then placing it in the dishwasher, "I don't know if I can ever think of something that would be good enough for our little girl."

"Someday we'll figure out a name for her, Ziva. We still have a while yet, there is no need to worry about it."

* * *

><p>Abby was overly excited to be out of her lab and out shopping for baby things with Ziva. She was definitely going to be treating this little girl as if she was her own niece. She threw more things in to the basket and Ziva sighed, clearly getting annoyed of shopping seeing as she was already sure that they had bought enough for the baby for the newborn stage of her life.<p>

"I think you have picked out enough, Abby." Ziva said, "I am pretty sure that I already have plenty of clothes for the baby and I could want to buy more a lot later on in the pregnancy."

"Ziva you need to think about it, you haven't got all that long to go. You're at twenty four weeks now. Did you know if something happened that if you went in to labour and had to have the baby prematurely there's actually over an eighty percent chance that with the right care the baby would survive?"

"Well let's just hope that something like that doesn't happen to me because I am not ready to be a mother yet and Tony would be freaking out over both me and the baby and he could end up finding twenty hairs in the shower drain."

"I was just letting you know that it could be possible that something could happen that the baby may show up and you won't even be the slightest bit ready for the baby."

"Well I hope the baby doesn't decide to show up any time soon. I don't think I could take being the type of mom who has to worry every day in a NICU, wondering if their child is going to make it another day. I don't think Tony could handle being that kind of dad, either."

"I am just saying that you need to be prepared just in case life does happen. Tony said that you haven't even ordered the crib and furniture that you guys want for the baby room yet. You need to start preparing, Ziva!"

"Abby, I just ordered the stuff that we wanted today. It's going to be delivered to the house tomorrow around noon time. I am getting prepared and I am capable of preparing for all this."

Abby shrugged and then smiled, "Have you taken my name suggestions in to consideration?"

"I don't think that Molly, Abby the Second, and Fern are names that Tony and I wish to name the baby. Thanks a lot though, Abby. It's definitely a help."

"Just remember Ziva, you can never go wrong with naming a baby unless you name the baby Leroy, Jethro or Gibbs."

"It seems that everyone has a pick on Gibbs." Ziva commented, "Tony said that not too long ago, too."

"Have you personally got any names in mind yet, Ziva?"

"I have a few names in my mind but I don't know which one I like the most. I haven't told Tony the names yet but I'm sure he'll agree with either one."

"What were the names that you were thinking of?"

"I was kind of thinking either Leah or Mariah."

"I like those names." Abby offered, "They're definitely pretty."

"I know but that's kind of the problem, Abby. They're pretty and nice and all that kind of stuff, but I want a name that is out of the ordinary. I don't want five other girls in her kindergarten class to have the same name as her."

"Well, then I guess you still have a lot of researching to do between now and the time you are due."

* * *

><p>Ziva was taken aback when Tony had asked her out on a <em>date <em>to one of her favorite restaurants and then to a movie. She had questioned it at first but then accepted his offer. She didn't feel like she looked good enough to be going on a date due to her weight gain, but she was slowly learning that pregnancy was something that was to be embraced. She walked down the stairs where Tony was sitting on the couch and waiting for her. He looked over from the television program that he was watching and grinned.

"Are you ready to go now?"

"Yes, I am ready to go and I am very hungry. So you should shut off the TV and then we can get going."

He clicked the remote and went over to the alarm system for the house, turning it on and then kissed Ziva on the cheek. "I am officially ready to go and our house is secured, so let us take our leave."

She put her hand to where he had just kissed her and smiled. Though the regular cheek kisses wasn't anything new now. Sometimes Ziva wasn't sure how to take them but she didn't tell him to stop doing it. She secretly liked it when he did that but he wasn't going to let him know that. She had to avoid becoming in an official relationship with him. The only reason why they were living together was because they wanted a stable home for their baby and nothing more. Right?

She followed him out the door and he went to the passenger's seat and opened the door for her. Tony was really being the lady's man tonight. She wondered just how many women he had given this kind of typical Tony treatment to, but decided to ignore it. Ever since she had become pregnant Tony had not bothered with women anymore and was there for her after the initial shock of the pregnancy was over so she had no right to start questioning him about his past. It was best to just let the sleeping dogs lay.

"I am glad that you accepted going on a date with me, Zi." He said, starting the car. "I was almost sure that you were going to say no but I just had to ask you."

"I think a night out to relax and have my mind taken off the stress was definitely something that was needed. Spending that time out with you is definitely something I don't mind and I am glad that you did ask me." This was probably a night where he wasn't going to be made to sleep down in the basement.

_Stop and stare. I think I'm moving but I go nowhere. Yeah I know that everyone gets scared. I've become what I can't be. Oh, do you see what I see?_


	10. She's A Miracle

**A/N: It's been a bit since I have updated. I've been out of the province a bit, and dealing with the normal trials of a High School aged person. My 17th birthday was yesterday. So, finally I bring you another chapter. It seems... rushed. I just can't figure out how to transition properly (depending on grade 11 University Prep English to help me with that)... so yeah.**

**Disclaimer: Nothing is mine. D: Not even for my birthday.**

The time seemed to be going by more quickly by the day and both Tony and Ziva were becoming unsure if they liked that or not. They still hadn't decided what to name their baby but everything else was coming nicely in to place. They went to prenatal classes together just so they could know things to expect and also discovered different exercises that Ziva could do to help with the baby. They also met other couples there that had the same kinds of feelings as them when it came to not being ready for a baby to come. Ziva typically didn't like many other women because she thought they were all obnoxious but she actually didn't mind some of them that were in her class. Finally she was able to relate to other women when it came to the whole pregnancy and children type of thing. She honestly never expected that to happen to her.

Ziva had to admit that she was actually going to be sad when she was complete of her classes and would have to leave them. The information that she had received had calmed her and Tony's nerves down a lot and they both were becoming more comfortable with the whole pregnancy. It definitely took them a very long time to get to the stage where they were openly comfortable with things and they didn't have to fight over every little thing.

The two of them still didn't know what they were going to name their baby and as the thirtieth week of pregnancy began, both of them realized that they had to pick something and preferably sooner than later.

Work was still a difficult thing for Ziva and she spent most of her time doing the paper work for the team and helping McGee with checking records on people. If she wasn't doing paperwork or checking records she'd be downstairs in Abby's lab, trying to help with what she could down there. She was still fine with being at work as long as she sat down most of the time and didn't have to be on her feet too much. She enjoyed observing interrogation because it was as close to her real work as she could possibly get. She finally understood that her not working in the field since early on was best for the baby and if she had been doing field work, she probably would have lost the child by now.

By thirty two weeks Ziva was taking days off of work here and there as they aches and pains actually got to her and made her feel like she'd rather be laying down than sitting at her office desk. Tony felt bad for leaving her through the day but he continued to go to work faithfully just to keep on bringing home the bacon. He came home and did all the little things for her when she did stay at home, and on the days that she came to work, he'd be sure to ask her if she needed anything. Sometimes Tony had become quite annoying when constantly asking Ziva if she needed anything.

"Tony, you need to stop asking me if I need anything." Ziva sighed, annoyed. "I have told you that I am fine for now and if there is something I cannot get myself I will let you know. Now shut up before I ask Gibbs to slap you, because I'm sure he would love to do that right now."

"You think, David?" Gibbs grumbled, taking a sip of his coffee. "DiNozzo is worse than the type of man who has a wife that's in labour and runs to start the car, drives off, and forgets the wife."

"I'll bet you five dollars that when you do go in to labour he's going to end up pulling some type of stupid stunt like that." McGee commented.

"No one asked you your opinion, McProbie." Tony glared at McGee.

"I don't think that you'll end up forgetting me, Tony." Ziva soothed, "I just think that you're going to faint during the delivery."

"Is there anyone who's rooting for me?" Tony groaned, "I'll probably end up doing all of those things and making a fool out of myself."

"Everyone makes a fool out of themselves at some point, DiNozzo." Gibbs said, and answered his desk phone which started to ring. "Gear up." He ordered, after the conversation ended.

The three guys ran out of the bull pen and Ziva grinned, this was now her chance to go down and talk to Abby about baby things as she did almost every day now. Then she would probably go and talk to the Director. Vance was always someone who had tips to offer Ziva when it came to parenting and he often brought in Ziva little books and things that his wife had found and clearly didn't need any more when it came to parenting young ones.

As far as her relationship with Tony, Ziva wasn't really sure where the two of them stood. They had started to learn how to make it work but they still had their disagreements at times. They weren't together but in many ways they _were _together, which was just all around confusing at times. Tony also seemed to be learning commitment as he hadn't been with another woman for a very long time now. He always promised Ziva that he had her back and she had finally trusted him with that statement. Having a baby on the way had changed the immature adult who most times acted more like he was in his first year of college.

Ziva had also realized that the pregnancy had changed her, as well. She had never really wanted children because she had never really been used to them being around and disliked when they cried. She liked a child that she was able to hand back to their mother, but she also couldn't say that she hated children because she didn't. Sometimes she did feel maternal instincts when she came across a child in a case but it never went beyond that. It had never made her long for a child of her own. Now that she was getting closer to having a baby she found herself longing for the day that she got to hold the child and tell her that she was loved. She wanted to do all the motherly things that would come naturally to her once she had that little baby with her.

* * *

><p>Tony and Ziva laid in bed together watching <em>The Sound of Music. <em>Ziva was trying to get comfortable but was at the stage where no matter how she laid down she just couldn't get comfortable and if she did manage to get comfortable the baby would start 'kick boxing'.

At thirty six weeks she wasn't even able to go to work now just in case it put too much stress on her which would in turn put stress on the baby. So she had reluctantly agreed to go on maternity leave about a month before she was due to give birth.

Tony's hand was resting on her stomach, completely ignoring the movie. "Daddy loves the baby." He said quietly, "Maybe baby could stop kicking mommy so much though. She's a little bit uncomfortable right now."

"You are cute when you are talking to the baby, Tony."

"Are you saying that I'm cute, Zee-vah?" he asked, grinning at her.

"You are only cute when you are talking to the baby, or doing something baby related." She said, forcefully.

"You have hurt my heart greatly, David. I shall never be the same again and now I am going to go down to my little cave in the basement and cry."

Ziva rolled her eyes, "My heart would absolutely ache and break in two if I ever made my precious DiNozzo become a Drama King and cry in the basement."

Tony was just about to respond sarcastically to that when he noticed that Ziva had froze and her eyes had gone wide. She managed to prop herself up to a sitting position and she placed her hand cautiously on her stomach. Tony watched in fear, wondering if something was wrong with her and finally she looked at him.

"Tony… there's something wrong with the baby."

"What is it?" he asked quickly, trying to keep the note of hysteria out of his own voice. "Tell me what's wrong, Zi."

"My water just _broke, _Tony." Ziva panicked, "It's only thirty six weeks, it's not forty weeks!"

"Remember that the doctor said that you're considered full term at thirty seven weeks, Ziva?" Tony asked, trying to calm his panicking partner down. "You're only one week short of thirty seven weeks. You're going to be fine and the baby is going to be fine. Just stay right here for a second, I'm going to call your doctor and see if we should go in."

Ziva nodded at Tony and turned to look back at the TV screen so he couldn't see that she was starting to cry now. She didn't want to have a preemie, she wasn't even due for another little while. She very dearly needed that time to continue on mentally preparing herself.

It wasn't long after her water broke that Ziva found herself getting contractions and cursing out Tony as she was getting examined by a nurse in the Labour and Delivery ward. They were checking to see if her baby was distressed and if there should be some type of intervention. Ziva was experiencing high blood pressure and that was a concern to the nurses and doctors. They gave her some medications that were safe for her to take and had decided to let things take a natural course and see how it went.

Tony left the room to go and get the food he had been demanding and ran in to Abby, Gibbs and McGee who all had concerned looks on their faces and were clearly looking for information.

"Why are we standing here about a month too early, DiNozzo?" Gibbs asked.

"I guess the baby decided that she wanted to come now." Tony sighed, "Ziva's fine right now, they are monitoring her blood pressure which is up right now but that's about it. The baby isn't in distress and technically thirty seven weeks is considered full term, so she's really only about a week early. Just four weeks early when it comes to how prepared Ziva and I are."

"Well, Tony, you might want to get a coffee then." Gibbs said, using Tony's first name for the first time in a long time. "This could be a while."

"I'm just on my way to go and get Ziva's latest craving and praying that the vending machine or cafeteria has it. She's in room 307, Abby. I am sure that she'll be quite happy to see you."

Abby grinned at Tony and skipped off to the room she had been told to go to. The guys all went for a slow stroll down to the cafeteria and grabbed what Ziva wanted and all loaded up on coffee. Tony had a feeling that it was going to be a very long night for both him and Ziva and was glad that he had the team around to help the both of them through it.

When they went back up to the room Abby almost jumped Tony, who looked quite taken aback. "Tony!" she exclaimed, "You better get in there now. Ziva's contractions are getting a lot closer together."

Tony shoved his cup of coffee in Abby's hands and bolted in to the room to where his partner was going to have their baby. Her water had broken three hours ago and now she had contractions that were closer and closer together and she was almost fully dilated. Was everything supposed to go this fast? He had heard women talk about being in labour for many hours and being up for long hours through the night.

After another hour and a half Ziva was practically cutting the circulation to his hand off. He didn't dare say anything to her though for fear that she would purposely break his hand. Many pushes later cries of an infant filled the room and the little baby was rushed off by the nurses and doctor's after the cord had been cut. A nurse stayed behind to explain that she had to have a "quick visit" at the NICU and would be back very soon if all went well.

Tony tried to rid his mind of the bad thoughts and tried to remain positive for Ziva who was practically breaking down and just wanted to see her baby. He wiped her hair away from his face and placed a cool cloth to her sweaty forehead.

"Hey, the baby is only having a quick visit to the NICU, Zi. She'll be back soon and then we can really have the chance to see her." The both of them saw their daughter only long enough to know that she was beautiful and looked generally healthy. The only problem that was she was a slight bluish color which raised an alarm. They didn't think it would be something serious but they had to make sure.

"I want to see my baby now, Tony." Ziva sniffed, "I want to see that she really is okay."

"Zi, she was turning more pink by the second as they took her away. She's going to be just fine and we're going to see her very soon." Tony kissed her forehead, "She's going to be okay."

_Got my face pushed up against the nursery glass, she's sleeping like a rock. My name on her wrist, wearing tiny pink socks. She's got my nose, she's got her Mama's eyes. My brand new baby girl, she's a miracle. I Saw God Today._

__**A/N: Not the greatest in my opinion, but I try. Reviews would be like 1000000 birthday presents for me! Come on, reviews for my 17th birthday? They don't even have to be nice. :) I enjoy critism, as it makes me a better writer. FanFiction is my way of improving my writing in the academic world, so give me an opinion! Thanks for reading and all the awesome reviews you people have submitted so far. **


	11. Never Grow Up

**A/N: Whoa, um... can it please be my birthday every day? Say it's your birthday and apparently you get a flood of reviews. Ah well, it only comes once a year. Thanks for all the reviews, and sorry to the people who thought it was rushed. I thought the same too, but sometimes my excitement for a certain part takes over and I rush through things to get to where I want. Sorry! :)**

**Disclaimer: At the age of 17, I still lack the means to own NCIS or even have some type of share in it. Maybe when I'm 27?**

Gibbs team watched in worry as they saw a little baby being rolled out of Ziva's room with doctor's talking about taking her to be examined in the NICU by a neonatologist and to get x-rays to determine if the child needed any breathing support. Tony walked out of Ziva's room about forty five minutes after that looking a little stressed out and a lot older looking than he really was. He was most likely kicked out by an overly emotional Ziva.

"Boss, Ziva wants to see you." Tony sighed, "Apparently what I say isn't helping her too much and she claims it sounds like I don't even care about the well-being of our child. I was just pointing out to her that they wanted to take the baby to NICU for just a little bit for precaution and have her examined by someone who specializes with preemies. She thinks that just means I don't care. She wants her father figure, so please, go talk to her."

Gibbs nodded and stopped to pat Tony on the shoulder and then he entered the den of the Lady Kimono Dragon, not that she was like that anymore. Gibbs wasn't shocked to see that she was crying and looked very worn out. She looked up at him with wide brown eyes that screamed for answers or just some type of comfort that only a father figure could provide.

"Ziver." He said, walking up to her and taking her hand. "How do you feel?"

"I feel like I am on an emotional ferris wheel that has taken me through hell and back." Ziva sighed, trying to control her emotions. Gibbs did not bother telling her that it was a roller coaster and not a ferris wheel. "I feel bad for being so horrible to Tony right now but I am so worried about the baby. I barely even got to see her before they took her away from me. She wasn't even crying Gibbs, babies are supposed to cry when they are born!"

"You were told by one of the nurses that they were just taking her to the NICU for precautionary reasons and that she was probably okay, Ziver. Sometimes babies are like that when they are born and just need a little extra help to get things started. Your little baby is going to be back with you very soon and then you're going to have a big task at hand. We can't just call her baby forever now, can we?"

Ziva appeared to calm down a little bit, "Why did hearing that from you feel better than hearing it from a nurse or hearing it from Tony?" she pondered.

"Sometimes a dad just knows what to say in certain situations."

* * *

><p>Not even two hours after her birth Tony and Ziva's baby was taken back to them in their room, she was wrapped in a pink blanket and had a little pink hat on her head. The only thing that was on her beautiful face was one of the neonatal nasal cannulas that was used for oxygen therapy. It didn't seem to be too bad though, because the nurse was beaming at both Tony and Ziva.<p>

"Congratulations, she's beautiful." The nurse said, "The neonatologist looked at her and she seems fine. All she needed was a little support with her breathing because her oxygen levels were low at birth and are still a little bit low right now. It isn't too much to worry about though, we can most likely take this off of her in about three or four hours. Other than that, you have a very healthy baby girl."

The two agent's smiled and took the time to more closely look at their daughter. She had the biggest brown eyes that seemed as if they were gazing deeply in to your soul, and a small tuft of hair that peeked out from the hat showed that she had Tony's hair color. She was beautiful and remained unnamed.

"How much does she weigh?" Ziva asked, softly.

"She weighs five pounds and nine ounces." The nurse smiled, "I'm just going to be going on my break now but if you need anything, please, press the nurse call button and either myself or someone else will be right here to help you."

"Before you go- are we able to hold her?"

"Her nasal cannulas have pretty long wires which allow parents to be able to hold their newborns, so yes, you may hold her. Any other questions?"

"No, that's about it." Tony said, staring at his daughter. "Thanks."

The nurse nodded and walked out of the room leaving Tony and Ziva with their daughter. Tony rolled the little thing that she was in closer to Ziva's bed and Ziva carefully picked her little one up and out of it. The baby started to cry at being moved but soon settled closed to her mother's chest, her ear pressed to wear she could hear the _thump thump _of her mother's heart.

"I think I know what I want to name her." Ziva finally said out loud, after a few silent moments of bonding with her daughter.

"What do you want to name her?" Tony asked, wondering what his partner could have thought of so suddenly when they had no clue for the longest time.

"Mariah." Ziva said slowly, testing the name out loud. "Mariah Elizabeth DiNozzo."

"Not David-DiNozzo?" Tony asked in shock.

"As much as my name is much more better sounding than yours, I think that she should have her daddy's last name and her daddy's only. We said that we wanted a normal life for her, so a normal life she will have, yes?"

"Well, I guess we've officially named our child, then." Tony smiled, "Mariah."

The two parents were interrupted when Abby flew in to the room, escaping past the guard of McGee and Gibbs who followed in quickly after her.

"You guys can't keep me out of here much longer!" she whispered, trying not to startle the baby. "I just have to see her now, I can't go any longer without seeing this baby!"

"Abby!" McGee sighed, "Tony said that he was going to come and get us when they were ready. You need to learn to stop being so impatient."

"I don't need you scolding me about being impatient, Timmy." Abby grumbled, "I am a big girl and I can take care of myself and don't need lectures about things now."

"Don't worry about it guys, truth is I forgot to come and get you." Tony shrugged, "I guess I just got a little caught up with how beautiful both my daughter and my partner are."

"Has she got a name yet?" Gibbs asked, "Or is it going to take you longer to name her than it is to do your paperwork, DiNozzo."

"We all know that he takes a very long time to do his paperwork." McGee grumbles.

"Actually, I've named her." Ziva said, "He has agreed to the name and I hope that you all like her name as well. This is Mariah Elizabeth DiNozzo."

"I feel bad for her." Abby sighed.

"Why?" Tony asked defensively. "I like the name Mariah, it sounds pretty."

"Oh, no it's not that. I love the name Mariah for her, it's just her last name isn't the best name ever. I mean, her name would be extremely kick ass if her last name was David."

"Don't make the new father feel bad, Abs. We need to go easy on him for the time being." Gibbs said, clapping him on the back.

"Since when has Tony ever gone easy on us for anything?" McGee raised his eyebrows.

"True, but we will be nice to him for now."

* * *

><p>Tony paced back and forth with the little baby in his arms, Ziva was asleep and the baby was crying. He had done everything he possibly could to get her to stop crying but Mariah just refused to stop and had decided to fuss. So he had resorted to pacing back and forth with his newborn daughter, who was so extremely small.<p>

"Well, I have to admit that I do not know what to do." Tony said, in a soft voice. "I guess all I want you to do is to stop crying. Maybe if I tell you about some people you'll eventually calm down. I know these people would have really loved to be around to meet you, though I think if the first person I am going to tell you about was still around, you probably wouldn't be here."

Tony went over to stand by the window of the hospital room and out in to the Summer night, it was 2 A.M in the morning on June 2nd. The lights of the city were shining bright and he couldn't figure out how Ziva was sleeping with the slight glow of the lights from the outside in the room but she had insisted there needed to be some type of the light for the baby.

"Kate was my old partner." Tony continued on after the pause, "She was killed by your mother's half brother, so I guess technically your uncle killed my old partner. The men on your mother's side don't seem like they're the best people, but maybe someday things will change between your mother and your grandfather. Anyways, back to my story, my partner Kate probably would have loved to meet you. She was a pretty cool lady, she even met the President of the United States. She actually protected him, Mariah. Things were never the same after Kate was murdered though. I miss her, but the pain numbed over time."

The baby stopped crying, looking intently at Tony with her big brown eyes. He didn't even notice that she had stopped crying by this point. He was so engrossed in talking to his new daughter that he had zoned the world around him out.

"Then there's Jenny, she was the Director of NCIS but she died from when daddy was a stupid idiot and didn't do his job even though mommy wanted to do the job. I guess she would have died anyways because apparently Jenny was very sick but she was a really nice person. You mommy was really close to her when they met in the Middle East, I think it was. I think she would have wanted to meet you."

He sighed and noticed that Mariah was staring up at him with such alertness, "I guess daddy's stories have made you stop crying." He commented, "Maybe we should get Ducky to come around and tell you stories all of the time. You'd learn a lot from Ducky, he's a pretty cool old guy."

Tony also hadn't noticed when Ziva's snoring had stopped and her eyes had opened, she was watching the both of them and she smiled.

"Are you giving her some NCIS history even though she probably can't understand it, Tony?" Ziva asked.

"I guess you could say I was filling her in on some things." Tony said, "She was just crying so much and I tried everything I could to calm her down and you were asleep, so I decided that maybe if I talked to her she would stop crying."

"I guess clearly she did stop crying."

"She did." Tony said, walking over to Ziva. "You want to hold her?"

"Yes, it's time to feed her."

* * *

><p>Tony and Ziva brought their baby home from the hospital about three days after she was born. Mariah was keeping the two of them on their toes. They could deal with serial killers, rapists, and terrorists but it seemed that a baby was proving almost impossible for the two of them to deal with. She slept all day and then cried all night and the two of them seemed to be dead to the world whenever anyone came over to visit. How come they could deal with terrorists, rapists, serial killers and everything else one could think of, but not a baby?<p>

Ziva held the baby with one arm and the other one was pushing the Swiffer across the kitchen floor, and Tony was passed out on the couch with the news on the TV barely audible in the background. For once things were quiet in the house, until the doorbell rang and the baby started to wail and Ziva sighed. She propped the Swiffer up against the couch and opened the door to where Gibbs stood with take out bags in his hands.

"You look like crap, Ziver." He told her, stepping in without invitation from his agent. "Where's DiNozzo?"

"He's passed out on the couch, Gibbs."

"Another rough night, huh?" he asked.

"Yes. I knew this baby thing was going to be hard but I thought that we would be able to handle it. I do believe that I was wrong."

Gibbs set down the bags on the table, "Lunch." He clarified. "Abby said that you and Tony both liked this health food place downtown so I picked that up for the two of you. Thought that with the baby and all you might be forgetting to feed yourselves."

"Thank you, Gibbs." Ziva said, quietly.

"Ziver, you and Tony can do this."

Ziva nodded, "I know that we can. Gibbs, would you mind holding the baby?"

Gibbs took the baby from Ziva and she stopped crying, looking up at him quite curiously. Apparently even little kids could sense the power of the Gibbs. Ziva dished out the salad on to a plate, just taking enough out for herself and leaving enough for both Tony and Gibbs. Not that she pictures Gibbs to be one that would eat a health food restaurant's salad.

"Ziva, you should go and take a small break." Gibbs suggested, "I'm pretty sure that I have this under control for an hour or so. She does bottle feed, right?"

"Gibbs, I cannot ask you to do that." Ziva sighed, "She is my baby and I can take care of her."

"You need a break from stuff like that once in a while, Ziva. I am not requesting that you take a break, I am telling you to take a break."

"Gibbs."

"Ziva, don't turn down the help. If you have the chance to take a small break, even if it's only for an hour you should take it."

"I can't do that."

"Ziva, I am telling you to go now."

Ziva accepted defeat and finished eating and then left to go upstairs to grab an hours sleep. Gibbs sat there with little Mariah now nodding off to sleep. The house became extremely quiet and soon the only person who remained awake was the silver haired agent.

_Your little hands wrapped around my finger, and it's so quiet in the world tonight. Your little eyelids flutter 'cause you're dreaming, so I tuck you in, turn on your favorite night light._

**A/N: From here things should start to slow down somewhat, until the next thing I have up my little sleeves comes in to play.**_  
><em>


	12. Sad Daddy

**A/N: In this chapter we get sad Papa Tony (Pizza joint, anyone?) and a Ziva who truly wants to be independant still. Also, we get a case that kind of makes Tony a little... mad and protective feeling. So, keep those reviews coming! :) Thanks.**

**Disclaimer: I wish I owned NCIS, but I don't.**

Tony sighed softly, holding his finally sleeping daughter at only six in the morning. She was a week and five days today and he had to unfortunately go back to work to bring home money to support his little family. Ziva would return to work in a few months, or maybe a little bit sooner depending on how things went with the baby and how child care worked out. Neither of them seemed fond of leaving their baby at some type of day care that didn't have any protection for their child. Ziva had her past, and Tony just had a ton of people who held some type of grudge against them which could make Mariah a potential target for anyone.

"You need to go to work, Tony." Ziva mumbled, rolling out of bed. "You are going to be late and Gibbs is going to kill you on your first day back to work."

"I feel bad for leaving the two of you home alone while I go out to work." He admitted.

"Somebody has to bring home the ham."

"Someone has to bring home the _bacon, _Zi. The bacon."

"Whatever, they come from the same animal, yes?"

Tony nodded and then reluctantly put his daughter back down in the bassinette that they kept in their room. Once she was about a month old they planned on moving her to the nursery that was just across from their room but for now, they wanted her nice and close to them hence the reason they purchased both a crib and bassinette. Mariah continued on sleeping like nothing had even happened and Tony pressed a kiss to her little forehead.

"Don't bother cooking supper, I'll cook when I get home." Tony promised.

"You're going to be working all day, you should at least be able to come home to a cooked meal." Ziva argued.

"Most women who have a week old child usually don't complain when their man offers to come home from work and cook for them."

"I am able to do stuff for myself, Tony. I am pretty sure that I am able to cook you supper and not waste all of my energy."

"I want to cook for you, Ziva. I want you to have the easiest day that you possibly can."

"I am going to cook supper and that is final." Ziva said, "Now hurry up or Gibbs is going to slap the back of your head so hard you're going to cry louder than Mariah does when she is hungry."

"That would be the understatement of the year." Tony grumbled, and headed downstairs not even bothering with breakfast or grabbing coffee. Ziva followed him to the door and tried to look positive.

"Have a good day, Tony. Say hi to everyone for me and tell Abby that Mariah sends hugs and kisses."

"I'll have a good day." Tony said, "If I get a case and will be working late tonight, I'll let you know. Also-if you need anything promise me that you will call."

"I will not call, Tony. You are at work to do your work and you do not need to be worrying what is going on at home."

"Alright, I guess it sounds like you have it under control. You are sure that you do not need anything before I leave?"

"Tony, just go!" Ziva looked annoyed, "I told you that I am fine, _we _are fine."

The sad father grabbed his keys and opened out the door to the world beyond new babies, arguing with your partner, and changing diapers. His worst fear had once been children and being anywhere near them but now his worst fear was leaving his own child at home while he went to work and put his life at risk every day. What if one day he left the house and never came back and his daughter never knew who he was? What if something happened that when both he and Ziva were at work something happened to the both of them and they didn't make it through? Many children had parent's in law enforcement and the military and lost parent's to war and other way's that people in law enforcement die but he didn't want to have his daughter experience something as painful as that.

He started up the car in a haze barely noticing what he was doing through his thoughts. All he knew was that he was pulling away from his world. His beautiful baby girl and his partner were the only people that he never needed to be in his life.

* * *

><p>Somehow he had managed to get to NCIS without any issues and pulled in to his usual parking lot. He entered the building, then the elevator, and then was up in the bull pen taking his seat at his desk. He stared across at Ziva's empty desk and wished that she was there. Somehow NCIS was always different when NCIS wasn't around. He looked over to the usual area where they kept new people, Ziva's temporary replacement sat at her crappy desk and crappy chair looking extremely nervous under the glare of Gibbs.<p>

"You're late, DiNozzo."

"Sorry, boss." Tony apologized, "I guess I just didn't want to leave the house this morning."

"Don't apologize. It is a sign of weakness."

"Right, boss."

"We have a case, a Marine and his wife were found dead in their off base residence. They have two children, one is injured and in the hospital getting surgery as we speak and the aunt and uncle is there with her. The other child is at the aunt and uncle's residence with their older female cousin. We can't ask the children much, both of them are too young to understand. LEO's are still on the scene until we show up there to take over. So what are we waiting for? Gear up!"

Tony didn't waste any time grabbing his gear and he grabbed everything in record time and was first to the elevator with Gibbs and McGee and the newbie agent followed behind.

* * *

><p>Ziva decided to go back to sleep while the baby was still quiet and peaceful, it wasn't often that she was this quiet and slept for this long so she took advantage of the peace and quiet that there was. After another solid two hours of sleep she fed the baby who was now wide awake and then made breakfast for herself. She wasn't quite sure what to do today, as she had never been home alone with a baby.<p>

"Mommy loves you, Mariah." She whispered to her little one, "Don't you ever forget that. Even when I am stupid and yell at you when you're older, and complain about your school grades, or that boyfriend you have with too many piercings and tattoos, I will always love you."

Mariah gurgled back at her mother and sneezed cutely and looked up at Ziva with adoration in her big brown eyes as if to say _I love you too, mommy. _Ziva's heart melted every time her daughter looked at her like that and secretly she wished that her daughter would stay small forever.

_I won't let nobody hurt you, won't let no one break your heart._

If she could just stay small and in need of her mother forever, Ziva could protect her from everything that will someday eventually hurt her. School was a cruel place for kids with things like bullying or overly cranky teachers. She couldn't stand having Mariah coming home from school someday and crying because of something going badly.

Boys would be sure to break her heart when she was old enough to date, if they could get past Tony wanting to kill them. Mariah was definitely going to be coming home at 9 o'clock on a Friday night after her first date convinced that she was falling in love and then days later she would be heartbroken over that same boy who would promise her that he would love her forever. If she would just stay little, none of that would ever happen.

_No, no one will desert you. Just try to never grow up._

* * *

><p>"DiNozzo, will you pay attention to what you're doing!" Gibbs threw rubber gloves at his zoning agent, "You know just as well as I do that you don't touch evidence without gloves on!"<p>

Tony caught the gloves, "Of course boss. I knew that."

"Then act like you knew that, DiNozzo."

McGee smirked at Tony and Tony glared back at him, "I'll remember that next time, boss."

Their new agent walked in to the house, "Gibbs, I have the interviews done with the neighbours. Is there anything else that I can do right now?" she asked, sounding hopeful.

"Get me coffee." Gibbs said, barely acknowledging her.

"Where do I get coffee, though?" she asked, confused.

"I don't care _where _you get it. I asked you to get me a coffee, so you can get me a coffee."

"Alright, Agent Gibbs."

The new agent ran out as quickly as she had walked in and both Tony and McGee looked amused, probably both remembering their days when they were Gibbs' probie. Though this probationary agent was only a temporary on Team Gibbs and if she did well with Gibbs she'd be transferred to a new team when her time was up. Tony actually felt kind of bad for the poor girl but she seemed to be dealing with Gibbs pretty well for a female probie.

After getting the evidence bagged and tagged and back to NCIS where Abby could start working her magic with it, Tony and McGee were made to go over to the Children's National Medical Center where the child of the deceased Marine was clinging to life in the Pediatric Intensive Care Unit. They met with the sister of the dead Marine and his brother-in-law to ask some of their typical questions.

"Are you sure that you haven't noticed anything strange around their place when you went to visit them?" Tony asked, sighing. He hated hospitals and what he hated even more was knowing that just beyond the sliding doors of the unit were many sick children struggling to make it through another day, or maybe even another hour. Whoever shot that little kid was going to have hell to pay.

"Nothing." The woman, who said her name was Alice had responded. She looked distracted and like she just wanted to get back to her niece's bed side.

"Well, if you're absolutely sure about that, then we'll let you get back to your loved one." McGee said, politely. "If you think of anything, here's my card, and please call."

The husband and wife nodded and the two agent's left the hospital, not used to being in a more pediatric setting. Most of the time if they had to go to a hospital it was Bethesda, and not Children's National.

"Whoever shoot's a child is my worst enemy." Tony grumbled.

"I know how you feel, Tony." McGee agreed.

"You don't know how it feels to hear of that and then think about what it would be like if it was your child, McGoo."

"I think you and Ziva would both have that person dead before they even had a chance to pull a weapon on Mariah."

"I'd have the person shot before they even set eyes on my little girl." Tony said, defensively.

"Then you don't ever need to worry about anyone hurting her. Not to mention Ziva, Gibbs and I would kick some arse if someone should ever try to harm her."

"God have mercy on the person who had to face Gibbs after they tried to harm a member of his team or family."

"Do you miss Mariah right now, Tony?" McGee asked.

"More than anyone could ever imagine, Tim." Tony sighed, using McGee's first name for once. That definitely showed just how much he missed his little girl.

He cherished his baby girl.

_With arms wide open, under the sunlight. Welcome to this place, I'll show you everything with arms wide open. Now everything has changed I'll show you love, I'll show you everything._

**You know what to do! ;)**


	13. Israeli's Are Back

**A/N: Um, sorry about that pause. I guess life just got busy even though I have a bunch of chapters already written. In this chapter Ziva starts with looking for child care, where we meet a fellow NCIS agent's daughter named Allison (who will baby sit Mariah). Then, back at work all I can say is four things: The Israeli's are back.**

Ziva very reluctantly had started looking in to child care for her daughter as it was soon time for her to return to work, as well. She didn't want to leave her child just anywhere, or with anyone in general so she had a tough choice to make. If she went with some type of daycare center, they'd definitely need to have all their paperwork in order and _then _some to gain both the approval of Tony and Ziva. Leaving her child for a while could be the hardest thing that Ziva would have to do. They also needed to think of alternate options for when there was a case and neither Tony or Ziva could return home until late that night. Would there be someone reliable who could take on the responsibility of watching their baby past regular daycare hours? Or maybe a daycare wasn't even the best place to begin with.

Ziva had found someone that she had been generally interested in as an in-home sitter, who didn't mind having to stay the night should something happen that she had to stay late at work with Tony. The girl was a daughter of one of the other agents in NCIS. She had no records with the police, not even as much as a speeding ticket and seemed to have a level head. She was just taking a year off of High School to save up a little bit of money that all the scholarships she had received wouldn't cover for when it came to her schooling. She was accepted to a top-notch program for an Undergraduate in Law. Ziva thought that it had seemed promising but had to meet the girl first. Tony also wanted to meet her when he had a chance to give his stamp of approval, but she wouldn't make it to meeting Tony if she didn't pass Ziva's ninja radar.

The child care candidate and Ziva both met at a coffee shop in the downtown. The two of them made their order and then they were down to business.

"So, Allison," Ziva started. "Could you tell me a little bit about yourself?" Not that she really needed to tell Ziva. She knew most of it already.

"Well, as you know, my name is Allison." She said, shyly. "I just graduated in June and was one of the top students of my year. I received many scholarships that would almost pay off my first few years of university but I don't want to resort to student loans yet so I have decided to take a year off before heading off to get my Undergraduate in Law. If I get in to Law School, I plan on being a lawyer and I want to be the type that works for the people who were wronged, not the one that defends the perp."

"Your father must be extremely proud of that, yes?" Ziva asked, rocking the baby carrier slightly when Mariah started to fuss a little bit. Allison smiled at the baby and her eyes lit up like a Christmas tree when she did so.

"Yeah, I think he's proud of me. He doesn't really tell me but I'm sure he is proud and just doesn't want to show the emotion."

"I am very sure that he is proud of you, Allison." Ziva assured. "Can you tell me why you'd be interested in watching a child that could potentially have some crazy hours?"

"I've always loved kids my whole life. I always wanted a little brother or sister but that never happened. I spent a lot of time volunteering in the Sunday School at my church and spending time in the nursery with the really little ones, too. I took some child studies electives in my school, as well." She smiled. "My friends think I should have been a teacher for a kindergarten class, or a Pediatrician."

"Why didn't you become a pediatrician?" Ziva inquired.

"A pediatrician may be able to find traces of things like child abuse, but a lawyer can have influence in locking up whoever did the crime. I can argue the case. I just want to help put away any criminal in general though."

Ziva nodded, "You are aware that some nights could be extremely late nights for you?"

"Yes, I know that. I am aware of the stuff that is involved with law enforcement and how late cases can run. My dad may not be on a major case response team but he has had some stuff that kept him late."

"Your background check is excellent and I called a few people that you volunteered for previously and they all said you were great. If want to come over maybe tomorrow and spend the day you can get an idea of how things work for Mariah."

"Before we end this little meeting today, could I hold the baby?" she asked.

Ziva nodded and got the baby out of her carrier, carefully passing her to Allison who held the baby like she had held many babies before. Ziva was extremely sure that she had found her person- at least, for a year.

* * *

><p>The day Ziva headed back to work was painful for her, she had always heard of mothers having hard times parting with their children but she never expected it to be like this. She understood why Tony had dragged his feet on his first day back to work when Mariah was only a little less than two weeks old.<p>

"She's going to be okay, Zi," Tony kissed her cheek. "She's a good baby and we left her with a responsible young lady who seems to have a good head on her shoulders. Mariah is going to be okay. Trust me."

"I trust you Tony and I trust Allison, it is just the world outside of that bubble of trust that I do not trust. There are always people out there who are going to mess things up and cause problems."

Tony hugged her in the elevator, "Well we'll see how things go. You need to give this a thought before you throw in the towel and decide that you can't take it."

She reluctantly hugged back, "I know, but I want to be with my baby girl and not here at work. I love my work but I love Mariah more."

"Me too, but if the both of us want to give her the life that she deserves then we will work diligently to make sure that when she's older she had what she wants and a college fund to go to when she graduates from High School."

"That is why I am here now." Ziva nodded, "For her future."

The elevator doors opened and Ziva walked back in to familiar territory but back to go to work this time, and not just to visit. She settled down at her desk and went back to her familiar routine as if it had never been interrupted and as if she had never even had a baby with Tony.

She and Tony were definitely taking things slow between the two of them and still had their typical moments where they both wanted to just give up on ever trying to make things work. Ziva was impressed by how much Tony had matured, it gave her hope that things could be okay between the two of them. They had been out on a few dates when Abby had willingly offered to babysit Mariah for them. She always enjoyed herself when it was just her and Tony sitting at a nice restaurant and then going to a simple date at the movies. She wanted to _be _with Tony, but she wasn't sure how that would work out when in the field. That was another thought that always drove her to stay awake at night. Sure, they could do alright when she was not working and was at home caring for their daughter but what about when they were out in the field, or undercover?

Tony looked across the bull pen and smiled at Ziva, unaware of the thoughts that were running through her mind. All he could think about was how he was glad to have her back at work and how he was glad that the probationary agent was gone. The agent was annoying and was always trying to throw herself over Tony, who for once didn't appreciate a girl throwing herself over him.

McGee stared at both Tony and Ziva from his desk, wondering what was going through their minds. Ziva looked like she was having a serious conversation with herself inside her head and Tony looked extremely joyful. He didn't have much time to contemplate what the other members of the team he was on were thinking, because Gibbs came in to the bull pen with no coffee in hand and looking rather angry.

"We're on the tip hotline and we've got a tip that we have to check out, _gear _up. This tip is on a case that isn't worth messing with." He was pocketing his gun and grabbing other stuff from his desk as he spoke. The agents jumped to their feet and then followed Gibbs to the elevator.

Ziva sighed, she had not even been there for a full hour and they already had to go check out a tip. Since when did they check tips? Team Gibbs always got their way out of working the hotline.

"Tony, Ziva, cover the back of the house." Gibbs instructed, "McGee and I have the front entrance."

"Got it, boss." Both of them said, and discretely went to take the position they were instructed to take.

Tony and Ziva had their guns aimed at the back of the house waiting for further instruction from Gibbs, and they started worrying when they didn't hear anything. Ziva gasped when she felt a gun pressed to the side of her head.

"You should not have made your father so mad, _Ziva._"The person whispered, "You don't think that he would just leave it at that and never come back. He wanted you back for Mossad and he wanted you to go back to Israel, but no. You had to stay here with the American and give birth to your American child."

Ziva pulled a ninja move and managed to kick the person to the ground and point her gun at them. As Gibbs had always said 'If you think someone has the upper hand, break it.' And that's what Ziva did. She broke that hand.

"Leott?" she asked, glaring at the person who had snuck up on her.

"Let me guess, if Leott is here than Malachi is probably not all that far behind." Tony grumbled, as he scanned the area looking for the slightest sign of movement.

Malachi emerged from the bushes smirking at Tony. "You are lucky that I was not told to murder you, my friend."

"Touche."

"Ziva, you need to go back to your father. He does not care if you do not wish to re-join Mossad. He has changed now, he is missing you and wishes to have his daughter around for his last years of life."

"Like hell she's going back!" Tony growled, "He left her to die in that camp in Somalia and it was _us _who rescued her. We brought her back and we brought her back mentally, as well. You guys come here before and then leave with things being decent and then when Eli David comes prancing in expecting his daughter to leave with him that she's going to take things well? I don't think so."

"This is why in Mossad, we don't let things get personal." Leott said, "It makes things easier for everyone."

"If there was nothing personal going on here, why would the two of you be sent by Eli David here to come and ask Ziva to go back to Israel because he wants his daughter near for his final years?"

"If you were an aging man you would want your daughter near as well."

"I will not treat my daughter as poorly as Eli had treated Ziva." Tony snarled.

"My father still has much time to live." Ziva finally started to speak again, "Unless there is something I am not aware of?"

Both Leott and Malachi exchanged glances that worried Ziva greatly. It does not matter what Eli had done to her or what he had said about her _American _child. A father is a father, no matter what they do to you.

"He is ill."

Ziva paused and stared blankly at the pair.

**A/N: Well- here you go. I'll update again soon, I have no reason to not post a chapter... I am off of school until January 3rd and that is when my month long absence from this will begin. Enjoy. I guess? **


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